Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The Federal Trade Commission has required Prince International Corp. and Ferro Corp. to divest three facilities used to make porcelain enamel frit, glass enamel, and forehearth colorants, as a condition of Prince’s parent company – American Securities Partners VII, L.P. – acquiring competitor Ferro Corp. for $2.1 billion.  According to the complaint, the acquisition as proposed likely would allow the merged firm to unilaterally raise prices for porcelain enamel frit in the North American market, and for forehearth colorants in the world market. It  also would eliminate Prince as an independent competitor in the world market for glass enamel, increasing the likelihood of coordination between the merged firm and its largest competitor, Fenzi Holdings SPV S.p.A. On July 5, 2022, the Commission announced the final consent agreement in this matter.

The Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint and authorized a suit in federal court, to block Hackensack Meridian Health, Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Englewood Healthcare Foundation. The complaint alleges that the merged healthcare system would control three of the six inpatient general acute care hospitals in Bergen County, New Jersey. The proposed acquisition would eliminate close competition between Hackensack Meridian Health and Englewood in Bergen County and leave insurers with few alternatives for inpatient general acute care services, which encompass a broad range of inpatient medical and surgical diagnostic and treatment services that require an overnight hospital stay. On Aug. 4, 2021, the FTC obtained a preliminary injunction halting the acquisition while the administrative trial is underway. On March 22, 2022, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the preliminary injunction. The administrative trial is scheduled to begin on April 22, 2022.

The Federal Trade Commission authorized an administrative complaint and a suit in federal court to block the acquisition of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System by RWJBarnabas Health, or RWJ, which is one of the largest hospital systems in New Jersey. The complaint alleges that in Middlesex County, in the central part of the state, the acquisition will harm competition for inpatient general acute care services, which are a broad range of essential medical and surgical diagnostic and treatment services that require an overnight hospital stay. The FTC’s federal court suit seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the deal and maintain the status quo while the agency pursues an administrative trial on the merits of the case. On June 14, 2022, the parties announced that they had abandoned the transaction.

The Federal Trade Commission authorized an administrative complaint and a suit in federal court to block the proposed merger of two large healthcare systems in Utah, alleging the deal would lead to higher prices and lower quality of care in the region surrounding Salt Lake City, known as the Wasatch Front region. The deal would impact a broad range of essential medical and surgical diagnostic and treatment services that require an overnight hospital stay, known as inpatient general acute care, the FTC alleged.

The FTC’s federal court suit sought  a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the deal and to maintain the status quo while the FTC pursues an administrative trial on the merits of the case. On June 16, 2022, the parties announced that they had abandoned the transaction.

The owners and operators of a vast payday lending scheme that overcharged consumers millions of dollars will be permanently banned from the lending industry under the terms of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlement also provides that nearly all outstanding debt—made up entirely of illegal finance charges—held by the company will be deemed as paid in full.

The FTC charged the enterprise with deceptively overcharging consumers millions of dollars and withdrawing money repeatedly from consumers’ bank accounts without their permission.

The Federal Trade Commission is sending 26,698 checks totaling more than $970,000 to consumers who were harmed by a deceptive payday lending scheme that operated under the names Harvest Moon Financial, Gentle Breeze Online, and Green Stream Lending.

In June 2022, the FTC took action against California-based Gravity Defyer Medical Technology Corporation and its owner Alexander Elnekaveh, filing a complaint in federal district court to permanently stop their allegedly deceptive pain-relief claims for Gravity Defyer footwear. In its complaint the FTC alleged that Elnekaveh violated a 2001 order barring him from such allegedly deceptive advertising by making scientifically unsupported claims and using misleading consumer testimonials to sell Gravity Defyer products. In February 2025, the FTC announced a final order setting the case, in which the defendants were barred from the allegedly deceptive advertising and required to pay a civil penalty of $175,000.

The FTC along with law enforcement agencies from six states, sued Frontier Communications alleging that the company did not provide many consumers with Internet service at the speeds it promised them, and charged many of them for more expensive and higher-speed service than Frontier actually provided.

The FTC obtained an order halting a credit repair scheme that allegedly bilked consumers out of millions of dollars by falsely claiming they will remove negative information from credit reports, while also filing fake identity theft reports to explain negative items on customers’ credit reports.

A payment processing company that allegedly helped a bogus discount club scheme debit tens of millions of dollars from consumers without authorization will be required to pay $2.3 million and face a permanent ban from working with high-risk clients as a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit.

According to the FTC’s complaint in the case, which was first filed in 2017, iStream Financial Services and its senior officers, Kris Axberg and Richard Joachim, allegedly debited money from consumers who were seeking payday or cash advance loans, but were enrolled in a bogus coupon service and charged initial fees up to almost $100 plus as much as $19.95 each month. Consumers were enrolled in the discount club scheme online and through outbound telemarketing.

The Federal Trade Commission authorized an administrative complaint, and a suit in federal court blocking the proposed merger of Rhode Island’s two largest healthcare providers. The agency alleged the deal would lead to higher prices and lower quality care. The FTC, jointly with the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General, filed a complaint in federal district court seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the deal and to maintain the status quo pending an administrative trial on the merits of the case. On March 2, 2022, the Commission issued a statement regarding the parties’ decision to abandon the transaction.

Medical device company Boston Scientific Corp. agreed to divest certain assets to Varian Medical Systems to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that Boston Scientific’s proposed $4.2 billion acquisition of medical equipment and pharmaceutical supplier BTG plc would violate federal antitrust law. According to the complaint, Boston Scientific’s acquisition of BTG would harm consumers in the U.S. market for drug eluting beads, or DEBs, which are microscopic beads used to treat certain liver cancers. Interventional radiologists use DEBs, combined with chemotherapy drugs, in a procedure called transarterial chemoembolization. Under the proposed settlement agreement, Boston Scientific was required to divest to Varian its DEB business, as well as its bland bead product line. Bland beads are used in another type of procedure to block the flow of blood to a liver tumor. On Feb. 18, 2022, the Commission announced modifications to the divestiture agreement with Boston Scientific Corp.

The Federal Trade Commission sued to block Lockheed Martin Corporation’s $4.4 billion proposed vertical acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc, the last independent U.S. supplier of missile propulsion systems. Aerojet supplies advanced power, propulsion, and armament systems, which are critical components for the missiles made by Lockheed and other defense prime contractors. The  agency’s  complaint alleged that if the deal is allowed to proceed, Lockheed will use its control of Aerojet to harm rival defense contractors and further consolidate multiple markets critical to national security and defense. On Feb. 15, 2022, the Commission issued a statement regarding the parties’ decision to abandon the transaction.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a law enforcement action to block U.S. semiconductor chip supplier Nvidia Corp.’s $40 billion acquisition of UK-based semiconductor design firm Arm Ltd., the largest transaction in the history of the semiconductor industry. The FTC’s action seeks to preserve competition in markets for computer chips used in datacenters and in automotive advanced driver assistance systems. The complaint named Nvidia Corp., Arm Ltd., and Arm owner Softbank Group Corp. In February 2022, Nvidia Corp. announced that it had terminated its proposed acquisition of Arm Ltd. (Arm) from SoftBank Group Corp, and the Commission dismissed the complaint.

In 2020, Danaher Corporation agreed to divest assets to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its proposed $21.4 billion acquisition of General Electric’s biopharmaceutical business, GE Biopharma, would violate federal antitrust law. Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. is the approved divestiture buyer. Sartorius agreed to obtain the Commission’s prior approval if it proposed to acquire Novasep Process SAS’s chromatography equipment business. On Feb. 1, 2022, the Commission announced that it granted Sartorius’s petition to proceed with this acquisition.

New York-based supermarket operators The Golub Corp., which owns the Price Chopper chain, and Tops Market Corp. have agreed to divest 12 Tops supermarkets to C&S Wholesale Grocers to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that their proposed merger would likely be anticompetitive in 11 local markets in New York and Vermont. In those markets, according to the complaint, without a remedy the merger is likely to allow the newly merged company to increase prices above competitive levels, unilaterally or by coordinating with competitors. The merger is also likely to diminish the combined company’s incentives to compete on quality and service in its stores. The Decision and Order requires Price Chopper and Tops to divest the 12 Tops stores and related assets to C&S on a rolling basis, beginning by Jan. 17, 2022, at a rate of two stores pe week for six weeks. On Jan. 24, 2022, the Commission announced the final consent agreement in this matter.