This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Utah Court of Appeals has reinstated a lawsuit filed by a former Miss Utah and her business partner that alleges Provo police arrested them without cause after Nu Skin Enterprises falsely accused them of stealing surplus products.
The Court of Appeals ruled that 4th District Judge Steven L. Hansen had improperly applied a statute that limits the time period to file a lawsuit that seeks damages against a government entity.
The ruling this week puts back on track the lawsuit filed in 2012 by Elizabeth Craig, Miss Utah in 1991-1992, and her business partner Brady Harper, who operated a company called Nu Lite Sales.
They claimed that they were arrested in 2010 without proper investigation by Provo police after Nu Skin officials accused them of taking surplus product and selling it on eBay, instead of providing it to charity as they had claimed it would be.
A separate lawsuit pending in federal court alleged that Nu Skin employees actually set up the "theft" by calling them to pick up a shipment under an arrangement where Craig and Harper were helping another man, Scott Lazerson, dispose of what Nu Skin called "dump product."
Some of the Nu Skin items went to Lazerson's charity, the Interface Foundation, but Craig and Harper also sold higher end goods on eBay and donated cash to the charity, according to lawsuits.
The charity donations had been approved by and carried out with the help of Nu Skin employees, the lawsuits say.
The three were arrested on felony theft and money laundering charges but a judge dismissed the charges against Craig and Harper, citing a lack of evidence. Lazerson eventually entered into a diversion program that was to end in the dismissal of charges against him.
An attorney for the City of Provo has previously said the lawsuits were "without merit."