2d Circuit: Sleepy’s v Sleep Number – Can You Be Defamed To Your Secret Agent?

Plaintiff Sleepy’s sold a line of mattresses manufactured by a competitor, Defendant Select Comfort. Sleepy’s line performed poorly in comparison to a ‘slightly different’ line sold by Select Comfort in its own stores (which line had ‘exactly the same’ technology and basic components as Sleepy’s line).  Select Comfort thought that Sleepy’s didn’t adequately advertise their line, while Sleepy’s suspected that Select Comfort was disparaging the line sold by Sleepy’s. Sleepy’s sent ‘secret shoppers’ to Select Comfort stores, who asked sales staff about the differences between the two lines.  When the CEO of Sleepy’s was informed that the secret shoppers reported that Select Comfort’s sales staff was allegedly disparaging Sleepy’s, the CEO said: When a plaintiff sues for defamation based on a statement of thedefendant elicited by the plaintiff with some reason to expect…

Read more detail on Recent Advertising Law posts –

This entry was posted in Advertising Law and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply