Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The FTC filed an administrative complaint charging that 1-800 Contacts, the largest online retailer of contact lenses in the United States, unlawfully orchestrated a web of anticompetitive agreements with rival online contact lens sellers that suppress competition in certain online search advertising auctions and that restrict truthful and non-misleading internet advertising to consumers. According to the administrative complaint, 1-800 Contacts entered into bidding agreements with at least 14 competing online contact lens retailers that eliminate competition in auctions to place advertisements on the search results page generated by online search engines such as Google and Bing. The complaint alleges that these bidding agreements unreasonably restrain price competition in internet search auctions, and restrict truthful and non-misleading advertising to consumers, constituting an unfair method of competition in violation of federal law.

The FTC filed a complaint in federal district court in September 2014 charging that AbbVie Inc. and its partner Besins Healthcare Inc. illegally blocking American consumers’ access to lower-cost alternatives to Androgel by filing baseless patent infringement lawsuits against potential generic competitors. In a June 2018 decision, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that AbbVie used sham litigation to illegally maintain its monopoly over the testosterone replacement drug Androgel, and ordered $448 million in monetary relief to consumers who were overcharged for Androgel as a result of AbbVie’s conduct.

In September 2020, the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s finding of liability on the FTC’s sham litigation claim, and reinstated the reverse payment claim, two important legal victories that protect competition in pharmaceutical markets.

While handing the Commission important legal victories, the Third Circuit reversed the district court’s nearly half-billion dollar monetary judgment for consumers, holding that the FTC is not entitled to disgorgement under 13(b) of the FTC Act. This determination was effectively affirmed by the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG Capital Management v. FTC.

Since the initial filing of the lawsuit, generic AndroGel products have entered the market, so that patients now benefit from competition among multiple suppliers. AbbVie and Teva are also now subject to Commission orders preventing them from entering into certain reverse-payment settlements. On July 30, 2021, the Commission announced that it has withdrawn its reverse-payment claim from federal district court, ending its litigation against AbbVie.

Globex Telecom, Inc. and an affiliated company will pay a total of $1.9 million to settle Federal Trade Commission and State of Ohio charges that they facilitated a scheme that peddled bogus credit card interest rate relief, illegally charging consumers millions of dollars. The settlement marks the end of the FTC’s first consumer protection case against a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider.

The FTC and Ohio alleged that Globex provided a company called Educare Centre Services with the means to make calls to U.S. consumers, including illegal robocalls, to market Educare’s phony credit card interest rate reduction services.

The FTC and Ohio charged that both Globex and Educare were controlled by Mohammed Souheil, Globex’s former CEO and president, who was named in the lawsuit along with a number of other corporations and individuals.

Kuuhuub Inc., Kuu Hubb Oy and Recolor Oy settled FTC allegations that they violated a children’s privacy law by collecting and disclosing personal information about children who used the app without notifying their parents and obtaining their consent.

In July 2021, the owners of a New Jersey-based company that sells septic tank cleaning products agreed to a permanent ban on telemarketing and will pay more than $1.6 million to settle FTC charges that the company and its telemarketer made illegal robocalls to consumers, including tens of millions of calls to numbers listed on the agency’s DNC Registry. In addition, the defendants will turn over a residential property as part of the settlement. The complaint names as defendants: Environmental Safety International, Inc. or ESI; ESI’s two officers, brothers Joseph Carney and Sean Carney; and their other brother Raymond Carney.

Moneta Management, LLC, Moneta Management, Inc., and their CEO Michael Todd Greene settled FTC allegations that they knowingly provided false or deceptive information to credit card and ACH processors to obtain merchant processing for a student debt relief scam operated by Brandon Frere and his three companies.

The FTC and New York State AG have charged the marketers of the dietary supplement Prevagen with making false and unsubstantiated claims that the product improves memory, provides cognitive benefits, and is “clinically shown” to work.

SLAC (also doing business as Aspyre), Navloan, Student Loan Assistance Center, and Adam Owens -- three California-based student loan debt relief companies and their owner -- have agreed to be permanently banned from the debt relief business in order to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they falsely promised to lower or eliminate consumers’ student loans for an illegal upfront fee. The FTC also alleged that the companies and Owens failed to disclose that they paid consumers for positive Better Business Bureau (BBB) reviews.

Flo Health has settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company shared health information of its users with outside data analytics providers after promising such information would be kept private.

Career Education Corporation (CEC) and its subsidiaries, American InterContinental University, Inc., AIU Online, LLC, Marlin Acquisition Corporation, Colorado Technical University, Inc., and Colorado Tech., Inc. (collectively, CEC), has been ordered to pay $30 million to the FTC to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the operator used sales leads from lead generators that falsely told consumers they were affiliated with the U.S. military, and that used other unlawful tactics to generate leads. CEC’s lead generators also induced consumers to submit their information under the guise of providing job or benefits assistance. The FTC also charged that CEC’s lead generators falsely told consumers that their information would not be shared, and that both CEC and its lead generators illegally called consumers registered on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry.

The Federal Trade Commission is sending nearly $30 million in refunds to people tricked by agents working on behalf of Career Education Corporation (currently operating as Perdoceo Education Corporation), the operator of several post-secondary schools.

Casey’s General Stores, Inc., Buck’s Intermediate Holdings, LLC, and Steven Buchanan agreed to divest retail fuel assets in local gasoline and diesel fuel markets across two states to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that Casey’s proposed acquisition would violate federal antitrust law. The complaint alleges that the acquisition as proposed would harm competition for retail sale of gasoline in seven local markets in Nebraska and Iowa. Under the terms of the proposed consent order, Casey’s is required to divest six retail fuel outlets, three Casey’s outlets and three Bucky’s outlets, to Western Oil II, LLC and its affiliate Danco II, LLC within 10 days after Casey’s completes the acquisition. On June 9, 2021 the Commission announced the final consent agreement in this matter.