Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The Federal Trade Commission sued Lights of America Inc. and related defendants for violating federal law by misrepresenting the light output and life expectancy of their LED bulbs, and falsely comparing the brightness of their LED bulbs with that of other light bulbs. A federal court ordered the defendants to pay $21 million to the FTC to provide refunds and banned the defendants from misrepresenting material facts about lighting products. Millions of people bought these LED bulbs at Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, hardware stores, grocery stores, and on Amazon.com. The FTC has already returned more than $12 million to people who bought these light bulbs. The claims process is still open.

In July 2019, the FTC sent refunds totaling more than $708,000 to consumers and businesses that had been tricked into paying for unordered light bulbs and cleaning supplies. The Commission’s February 2016 complaint alleged the Lighting X-Change defendants’ telemarketers failed to disclose to consumers that they were making a sales call, pretended they had a previous business relationship with the recipients, and falsely claimed that they wanted to send a free sample or catalog. Instead, they sent unordered light bulbs and cleaning supplies without disclosing the price up-front, and billed the recipients much more than market price for the products. A July 2017 order settling the charges banned the defendants from the illegal shipping and billing practices, and imposed a financial penalty that was used to provide the consumer refunds.

Payment processor Allied Wallet, its CEO and owner Ahmad ("Andy") Khawaja, and two other officers, Mohammad ("Moe") Diab and Amy Rountree, have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they assisted numerous scams by knowingly processing fraudulent transactions to consumers' accounts.

The Federal Trade Commission mailed 1,177 checks totaling more than $380,000 to people who paid for purported business coaching services that were marketed as a way to help them earn thousands of dollars a month.

D-Link Systems, Inc., agreed to implement a comprehensive software security program in order to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations over misrepresentations that the company took reasonable steps to secure its wireless routers and Internet-connected cameras. 

Announced in June 2019 as part of a crackdown on illegal robocalls against operations around the country responsible for more than one billion calls, this proposed court order permanently bans Nicholas and Nicole Long from calling phone numbers listed on the DNC Registry and from robocalling. It also prohibits Media Mix 365 from calling phone numbers listed on the DNC Registry unless it has the express, written agreement of the recipient to receive such calls or has an established business relationship with the recipient. According to the FTC’s complaint against Media Mix 365, the defendants made illegal calls to develop leads for home solar energy companies.

Announced in June 2019 as part of a crackdown on illegal robocalls against operations around the country responsible for more than one billion calls, the FTC’s complaint against Derek Jason Bartoli alleges the Florida-based defendant has been an active participant in the illegal telemarketing industry for several years, serving as the “dialer,” “information technology (IT) guy,” and at times the seller for various telemarketing companies, including companies that the FTC and other law enforcement agencies have sued. He provided services in his own name and in the names of Phoenix Innovative Solutions LLC, Marketing Consultation Solutions LLC, and KimRain Marketing LLC.

Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corporation have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the companies violated the premerger notification and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, or HSR Act, when Canon acquired Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation from Toshiba in 2016.