Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

Home products and kitchen wares company Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has agreed to stop making false, misleading, or unsubstantiated claims that all of its Goldtouch Bakeware products, its Rejuvenation-branded products, and Pottery Barn Teen and Pottery Barn Kids-branded upholstered furniture products are all or virtually all made in the United States. On July 16, 2020, the Commission announced the final consent order in this matter.

The operators of a scheme that targeted new businesses across the country with bogus threats of government fines will pay $1.2 million and be banned from sending unsolicited direct mail under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and the State of Florida.

Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc., settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company misled consumers about its participation in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework. 

In December 2018, the operators of a student loan debt relief scheme agreed to pay approximately $1.3 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that they pretended to be affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education or with consumers’ loan servicers, and tricked consumers into believing that illegal upfront fees were being used to pay off their student loans. In July 2020, the FTC announced it was mailing checks totaling more than $1 million to individuals who lost money to the scheme.

In May 2020, the Commission accepted for public comment a proposed consent agreement to resolve allegations that Miniclip S.A. violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by misrepresenting its status in a Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) safe harbor program.

Retail fuel station and convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. and its affiliate CrossAmerica Partners LP agreed to divest 10 fuel stations in Minnesota and Wisconsin to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that ACT’s proposed acquisition of Holiday Companies would violate federal antitrust law. The FTC later alleged that they violated a 2018 order requiring divestitures of 10 retail fuel stations in Minnesota and Wisconsin to Commission-approved buyers no later than June 15, 2018. They agreed to pay a $3.5 million civil penalty to the FTC to settle the allegations.

The operators of a work-from-home scheme and the CEO of their main affiliate marketing network agreed to pay nearly $1.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that they used misleading spam emails to lure consumers into buying work-from-home services.