On Wednesday, we described draft legislation circulating in the Senate Commerce Committee that would have given the Federal Trade Commission almost unfettered authority to enjoin permanently any act, practice or method of competition that did not meet its approval. https://www.adlawaccess.com/2022/05/articles/senate-commerce-committee-chair-pushes-one-sided-13b-fix/ All the Commission would need to do is show that a reasonable person had fair
The one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC has renewed calls for Congressional action to expand and codify the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement authority under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act. Last Thursday, we wrote here about the agency’s most recent open meeting, during which Commissioners heard from a key Senate staffer that Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) intended to introduce what she hoped would be a bipartisan fix. Yesterday, Chair Cantwell’s bill was made public, and its terms render any hope of bipartisan support a long-shot, at best, with little likelihood of garnering the Republican support needed to clear the chamber.
The bill’s release followed the May 2 release of a Senate Commerce Committee report entitled Restoring the Federal Trade Commission’s Authority to Protect Consumers and the Marketplace – an 80-page report, more than 50 pages of which purported to list dollar amounts received in each state due to “FTC cases resulting in significant refunds” (many of which were settlements never actually litigated under Section 13(b)). The report echoed much of what we heard from Commissioners last week – that AMG has created an enforcement void for the agency and no alternative enforcement approaches come close to 13(b)’s ability to protect consumers and provide monetary redress. The report couched the court’s decision as particularly damaging to the agency’s efforts to curtail “Big Tech and Pharma’s ability to harm consumers and fledgling businesses.”
Continue Reading Senate Commerce Committee Chair Pushes One-Sided 13(b) Fix
During the Federal Trade Commission’s April 28 open meeting, Commissioners utilized the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC to highlight the implications of the ruling that gutted their enforcement authority under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act. Commissioners called yet again for a legislative fix and
ICYMI, the White House’s 2023 budget proposal includes $490 million for the FTC, reflecting a substantial increase ($139 million) over the FTC’s current budget of $351 million. To support this proposal, the FTC recently submitted a budget justification to Congress providing details about the need for the increase and how the funds would be spent.
Q: It has been nearly a year since the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC foreclosed the FTC’s ability to pursue monetary remedies under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act. How has AMG affected the FTC’s enforcement program, particularly in consumer protection cases?
A: As an initial matter, it’s Important to emphasize that the Supreme Court did not take any authority away from the FTC; it concluded 9-0 that the FTC did not have the authority in the first place. Justice Breyer put it this way: Section 13(b) produces a “coherent enforcement scheme. The Commission may obtain monetary relief by first invoking its administrative procedures and then Section 19’s redress provisions; it can use Section 13(b) to obtain injunctive relief while administrative proceedings are foreseen or in progress, or when it seeks only injunctive relief.”
The inability to obtain equitable monetary relief under Section 13(b) has taken away the FTC’s weapon of choice, but it has not left it without other means to carry the attack, and it continues to push the boundaries of its authority. Chair Khan has made clear that it will litigate on principle, and that often means without regard for litigation risk. In many ways, the agency is less predictable and, from a respondent’s or defendant’s perspective, dangerous. I had expected more restraint, given the AMG decision.
During oral argument, Justice Kavanaugh commented that, as former Executive Branch employee, he understands how “with good intentions the agency pushes the envelope and stretches the statutory language to do the good or prevent the bad – the problem is it results in a transfer of power from Congress to the Executive Branch.”
I heard something similar from Commissioner Wilson, in her concurring opinion in Resident Home. There, she said that AMG “should have been a wake-up call, a reminder to the Commission that, no matter how egregious the conduct or righteous our cause, the Commission is not entitled to go beyond the bounds of what the law permits.” Despite these warnings, in response to AMG, continues to explore the frontiers of its authority.
This means that the FTC has assumed an aggressive adversarial position, using all means at its disposal in an attempt to redress what it perceives to be consumer injury, even if it means advancing a litigation position that is ultimately unsuccessful. In short, I doubt that companies currently adverse to the FTC consider the agency to be compromised to any significant extent – in many ways, it is emboldened.
Continue Reading ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting: John Villafranco On Monetary Redress and FTC Enforcement Post-AMG
If you follow the FTC, you likely saw its widely-covered filing this week alleging that Intuit, the marketer of TurboTax, has deceptively claimed for years that its online tax preparation services are “free,” when they’re free for only a subset of taxpayers. The FTC’s case parallels two class actions already underway; some state AGs are
This month’s update kicks off spring with a Best in Show throwback ad comparing dog flea and tick medication, pivots to claims for survivalist ready-to-eat meals (don’t even try to act like you saw that coming), highlights FDA’s recently-issued voluntary recall guidance, provides a food court update on the latest ingredient class actions and cleans
Rumors suggest that Senator Schumer is maneuvering to confirm Alvaro Bedoya as FTC Commissioner sooner rather than later, which would give FTC Chair Khan the majority she needs to move forward on multiple fronts. One of those fronts is consumer privacy, for which Khan has announced ambitious plans (discussed here and here) that have stalled for lack of Commissioner votes. With Bedoya potentially on deck, now seems like a good time to recap those plans, as they might provide clues about what’s in the pipeline awaiting Bedoya’s vote. We focus here on three priorities Khan has emphasized in statements and interviews since becoming Chair.
Continue Reading Lina Khan’s Privacy Priorities – Time for a Recap
The FTC regularly investigates Made in USA claims, but private actions have been less frequent. New Balance, however, has faced at least two class action lawsuits alleging it falsely advertises its footwear products as “Made in the USA.” The most recent complaint , proposing a nationwide class, was filed in the U.S. District Court for
Last week, 49 State Attorneys General joined in a National Association of Attorneys General letter authored by Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee responding to the FTC’s Request for Public Comment concerning impersonation scams. While a bipartisan coalition from the State AGs on consumer issues isn’t particularly surprising, the call for additional federal oversight into
