Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

Online fashion retailer Fashion Nova, LLC is prohibited from suppressing customer reviews of its products and required to pay $4.2 million to settle FTC allegations that the company blocked negative reviews of its products from being posted to its website

As a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, the operators of an alleged credit card debt relief scheme based in Tennessee have agreed to court orders that would permanently ban them from telemarketing and selling debt relief products or services.

Sean Austin, John Steven Huffman, John Preston Thompson, and their affiliated companies were charged by the FTC in November 2022 with taking tens of millions of dollars from people by falsely promising to eliminate or substantially reduce their credit card debt. At the time, a federal court agreed to the FTC’s request to temporarily freeze the defendants’ assets and appoint a receiver over the businesses while the case took place.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, entered the final orders on April 28, 2023.

In January 2025, the FTC sent more than $5 million in refunds to consumers harmed by a deceptive credit card debt relief scheme known as ACRO Services.

The Federal Trade Commission ordered building services contractor Guardian Service Industries, Inc. (Guardian) to stop enforcing a no-hire agreement that prohibits building owners and managers from hiring Guardian’s employees. In a complaint filed against Guardian, the FTC alleges that Guardian—which operates in New York and New Jersey—includes no-hire agreements in its customer service agreements with residential building owners. These agreements prohibit building owners and competing building service contractors from hiring Guardian’s employees.