The doTERRA lawsuits and regulatory actions worth knowing about fall into a few distinct buckets: a pending mass arbitration effort alleging the company runs an illegal pyramid scheme, federal enforcement against distributors who claimed essential oils could treat COVID-19, a long trail of warnings from the FDA, FTC, and advertising watchdogs, a bitter trade-secret fight with Young Living that ended badly for the plaintiff, a Utah Supreme Court product-liability ruling on punitive damages, and serious forced-labor allegations in the company’s former frankincense supply chain that produced a U.S. import ban.
The Pyramid Scheme Mass Arbitration
As of early 2026, the law firms Milberg, LLC and Kopelowitz Ostrow P.A., working with ClassAction.org and Class Action U, are signing up former doTERRA “Wellness Advocates” to bring mass arbitration claims against the company.1ClassAction.org. doTERRA Wellness Advocate Scam Lawsuits Arbitration The effort is aimed at people who participated in the program in the past four years.2Class Action U. doTERRA Mass Arbitration
The central claim is that doTERRA operates as an illegal pyramid scheme, with a compensation plan that rewards recruiting new participants more than actually selling products to outside customers. Attorneys cite doTERRA’s own 2020 income disclosure, which showed that more than half of Wellness Advocates earned nothing and only five percent earned more than $1,370 per month. Those numbers, the attorneys argue, are gross commissions and don’t account for what advocates spend to stay in the program: a $35 sign-up fee, annual renewal fees, allegedly up to $150 per month in inventory purchases to maintain commission eligibility, free samples, training courses, and convention fees.1ClassAction.org. doTERRA Wellness Advocate Scam Lawsuits Arbitration
The claims also target rules doTERRA allegedly imposes on advocates, including prohibitions on working for competing direct-sales companies and on publicly criticizing doTERRA, along with allegations that the company enrolls advocates in automatic subscription renewals without adequate disclosure or an easy way out.
Why It’s Arbitration, Not a Class Action
If you signed up as a Wellness Advocate, you agreed to doTERRA’s Wellness Advocate Agreement, which requires all disputes to be resolved through individual arbitration and bars class or representative actions. The agreement names the American Arbitration Association in Provo, Utah, as the administrator, imposes a one-year statute of limitations, and requires a 60-day informal resolution process before any arbitration is filed.3doTERRA. Wellness Advocate Terms and Conditions The agreement also anticipates coordinated mass filings: if 25 or more similar demands are brought by coordinated counsel, a “batching protocol” applies, though the agreement states this does not authorize mass arbitration as such. No settlements or rulings from the current effort had been reported as of mid-2026.
FTC Action Against Distributors for COVID-19 Claims
In March 2023, the Department of Justice, on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission, sued three high-ranking doTERRA distributors for claiming the company’s essential oils and supplements could prevent, treat, or cure COVID-19. All three were current or former healthcare professionals who used their credentials to promote the claims in early-2022 webinars.4FTC. FTC Takes Action Against doTERRA Distributors for False COVID-19 Health Claims They were Lauren Busch, a former registered nurse and Diamond-level distributor in Utah; Eliza Johnson Bacot, a nurse practitioner and Diamond-level distributor in Georgia; and Dr. Tina Wong, a pediatrician and Blue Diamond-level distributor in California.5KMYU. FTC: doTERRA Distributors Facing Lawsuits After Falsely Claiming Oils Treat COVID-19
Each defendant agreed to a stipulated order requiring a $15,000 civil penalty and a permanent injunction against making COVID-related health claims without FDA approval, or any health benefit claims without valid human clinical testing. The FTC brought the claims under the FTC Act and the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act, with cases filed in the District of Utah, the Northern District of Georgia, and the Central District of California.6FTC. doTERRA – Busch The company itself was not a named defendant.
The Broader Regulatory Record
The 2023 case was not the first time federal regulators or advertising bodies took issue with doTERRA marketing.
In September 2014, the FDA sent warning letters to doTERRA and Young Living, finding that their essential oils were being marketed as unapproved new drugs. The agency cited distributor posts and websites promoting oils as treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s, autism, Parkinson’s, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Ebola. The FDA took the position that “labeling” included consultant websites and social media, not just official company materials.7Deseret News. Two Utah Companies Respond to FDA Warning Over Health Claims doTERRA attributed the violations to “a select few” distributors.8Marie Gale. FDA Sends Warning Letters to Two Essential Oil MLMs
In April 2020, the FTC warned doTERRA that its distributors were falsely claiming essential oils could prevent or treat COVID-19, and also flagged earnings claims aimed at people laid off during the pandemic. The FTC reminded doTERRA that it is responsible for monitoring what its distributors say.9CNBC. FTC Warns doTERRA, Rodan + Fields, Other MLM Sellers on COVID Claims
In October 2020, the National Advertising Division, ruling on a challenge by S.C. Johnson & Son, found that doTERRA lacked competent and reliable scientific evidence for its health benefit claims and its “Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade” label, and recommended that the claims be discontinued.10NutraIngredients. NAD Strikes Down doTERRA’s Essential Oils Health Claims The National Advertising Review Board upheld the recommendation on appeal. doTERRA said it “strongly disagrees” but would comply.11PR Newswire. National Advertising Review Board Recommends doTERRA Discontinue Certain Health Benefit and Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil Claims
The Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council, part of BBB National Programs, has opened at least two inquiries into income and health claims by doTERRA salesforce members on social media. A November 2024 inquiry looked at 14 posts suggesting typical members could earn full-time income or treat serious health conditions; the company had 13 of the 14 removed.12BBB National Programs. DSSRC Closure – doTERRA A January 2026 inquiry closed 12 Facebook posts advertising “financial freedom” and monthly earnings from $300 to more than $15,000.13BBB National Programs. DSSRC Closure – doTERRA Inc
Young Living v. doTERRA
doTERRA was founded in 2008 by David N. Sterling, a former chief operating officer of Young Living, along with other former Young Living executives and distributors.14The Salt Lake Tribune. Young Living and doTERRA Lawsuits In 2012, Young Living sued doTERRA in Utah state court, alleging trade secret theft, unfair competition, civil conspiracy, and misappropriation, and seeking more than $350 million in damages across nine causes of action.15Yahoo Finance. Litigator of the Week: Distilling a $350M Trade Secret Case The case rested on the claim that doTERRA’s founders had taken a business plan stored on a former Young Living officer’s laptop before he left in 2007.
Fourth District Judge Christine Johnson pared the case down over years of pretrial litigation. By the time it reached a five-week jury trial in 2017, only a single breach-of-contract claim remained, worth $12.8 million. On June 22, 2017, the jury returned a complete defense verdict for doTERRA, and the case was dismissed with prejudice.16Ballard Spahr. Ballard Spahr Delivers Sweet Victory to doTERRA
The judge then found that Young Living had “deliberately misled” the court and engaged in “a knowing falsification of the evidence” about when it had actually obtained the disputed business plan, concluding the company had possessed it since 2009 and had tampered with the device. In July 2018, Judge Johnson ordered Young Living to pay $1.8 million in doTERRA’s attorney fees for having brought the trade-secret claim in bad faith.17Deseret News. Young Living to Cover $1.8M in doTERRA Attorney Fees Following Yearslong Court Battle
doTERRA v. Kruger: Product Liability and Contract Waivers
In a separate case, the Utah Supreme Court ruled against doTERRA in a product liability dispute brought by Jessica Kruger, a distributor who suffered second- and third-degree chemical burns after applying doTERRA’s “ClaryCalm” oil before visiting a tanning salon. Testing showed the product contained 347 parts per million of bergapten, a phototoxic compound that causes sun sensitivity at 15 ppm, even though the label said “Does not cause sun sensitivity.”18FindLaw. dōTERRA International LLC v. Kruger
doTERRA tried to block Kruger from seeking punitive damages by pointing to a waiver in its Wellness Advocate Agreement. In a July 2021 decision, the Utah Supreme Court held that any preinjury waiver of punitive damages must be “clear and unequivocal,” and found doTERRA’s contract language addressed business-related losses rather than personal injury tort claims.19Bloomberg Law. Injured Utah doTERRA Product Distributor Can Seek Punitives Two concurring justices went further, arguing that preinjury waivers of punitive damages are contrary to Utah public policy.
Forced Labor Allegations in the Frankincense Supply Chain
The most serious allegations against doTERRA involve its former frankincense supplier in Somaliland. Around 2015, doTERRA partnered with Asli Maydi Exports & Imports Company, founded by Barkhad Hassan, to source frankincense resin. Investigations by the Corporate Accountability Lab, the Horn of Africa Charity Organisation, The Fuller Project, and The Guardian documented allegations of widespread labor abuses and sexual violence in the supply chain.20Dignity and Rights. doTERRA Fails to Remedy Sex Trafficking, Human Rights Abuses in Frankincense Gathering Communities
Investigative reports describe workdays of nine to twelve hours, six days a week, sometimes paid as little as one dollar per day or nothing at all. Former sorters reported kidney complications, urinary tract infections, asthma, and blindness they attributed to lack of protective equipment and sanitary facilities. The Corporate Accountability Lab’s report alleged that Asli Maydi employees sexually assaulted approximately 200 local women and girls, and characterized the supplier’s conduct as an “organized sex trafficking scheme.”21Corporate Accountability Lab. What Price for the King of Oils? Exploitation and Abuse in doTERRA’s Frankincense Supply Chain
doTERRA ended its relationship with Asli Maydi in December 2023 and retained Sidley Austin to conduct an internal investigation. According to the Corporate Accountability Lab, that investigation was compromised when Barkhad Hassan accessed sensitive information, leading to violent threats against survivors. In September 2024, doTERRA president Emily Wright acknowledged there was no clear evidence that payments intended for harvesters and sorters had actually reached them.20Dignity and Rights. doTERRA Fails to Remedy Sex Trafficking, Human Rights Abuses in Frankincense Gathering Communities
On November 1, 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a Withhold Release Order banning imports of frankincense products from Asli Maydi, citing five International Labour Organization indicators of forced labor: deception, withholding of wages, abusive working conditions, threats and intimidation, and physical violence. The order prevents any Asli Maydi merchandise from entering U.S. ports.22U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Issues Withhold Release Order Against Asli Maydi
In October 2025, doTERRA joined the Union for Ethical BioTrade, a voluntary multi-stakeholder initiative. Human rights advocates, including Partners for Dignity and Rights, called the step cosmetic, noting that UEBT’s assessments happen at the company level rather than at the supply chain sites where the alleged abuses took place. Former frankincense workers and community representatives in Somaliland say doTERRA has not adequately addressed their grievances, including unpaid wages and unfulfilled promises of schools and healthcare.23Dignity and Rights. How Much Longer Must doTERRA’s Former Frankincense Communities Wait