Tag: Administrative Law
Law Enforcers Place Online Payday Lenders in Their Cross Hairs
At least six federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), are currently coordinating a broad crackdown of the online payday lending industry. The agencies are trying to shut down companies that offer short-term loans online at very high interest rates. The… Read More
POM Loses a Round in Its Advertising Dispute With FTC, But Battle Continues
POM Wonderful LLC recently received a setback in its longstanding dispute with the Federal Trade Commission. On Sept. 30, 2012, U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts in the District of Columbia dismissed the juice maker’s declaratory judgment action against the FTC. The judge’s ruling, though, does not put an end to the POM-FTC battle, which is… Read More
State AGs Challenge Legality of New Dodd-Frank Regulatory Group
Three states have joined a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), a Dodd-Frank-created regulatory body headed by the Treasury secretary. The panel, composed of top financial regulators, is charged with overseeing broad threats to the financial system, and has the power to liquidate failing non-bank financial institutions it views… Read More
High Court Tosses Out Indecency Cases, Finds FCC Didn’t Give Proper Notice to Broadcasters
On June 21, 2012, in FCC v. Fox Television Stations Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s effort to apply its indecency standard to brief broadcasts of nudity and “fleeting expletives.” But the Court relied not on the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantees but rather on the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause…. Read More
Why POM Wonderful Can Celebrate FTC Judge’s Ruling in Advertising Case
Pomegranate juice maker POM Wonderful has declared victory against the FTC . . . in spite of an administrative law judge’s ruling that upholds many claims in the agency’s complaint. But the California company has good reason to celebrate: certain FTC standards, the ones that POM cried foul on, were rejected by the court. The… Read More
Appeals Ruling Stresses Value of SEC Voluntary Settlements
Judge Jed Rakoff’s November 2011 ruling rejecting Citigroup’s settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission sent tremors through the securities compliance world by challenging the seemingly well-accepted practice of permitting corporations to settle civil claims with the agency without admitting wrongdoing. But in its order granting a stay of the Citigroup proceedings pending appeal, the… Read More
New Agency Scrutinizes ‘Larger Participants’ in Financial Industry – But Who Are They?
There may be a legal hurdle or two for the Consumer Financial Protection Board to jump after the recess appointment of agency director Richard Cordray (the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the matter on February 15). But the consumer protection agency created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010 is pressing… Read More
EPIC Unlikely to Prevail in Challenge to FTC Stance on Google Privacy
A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed earlier this month to fast-track a lawsuit by a privacy group against the Federal Trade Commission, arguing that the FTC has failed to enforce the terms of a settlement agreement it reached with Google last year after the FTC accused Google… Read More
Judges’ New Scrutiny of Settlements May Make Life Difficult for Defendants
Recent headlines about the Securities and Exchange Commission have focused on Judge Jed S. Rakoff’s recent rejection of the agency’s proposed settlement of fraud charges with Citigroup Global Markets. In that case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Rakoff rejected the Citigroup settlement because, in his view, there… Read More
Suit Against FTC Asks: Did Agency Change Advertising Rules in Middle of Game?
Is there a way to hold a government agency like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accountable for the cost to businesses of what a company says are abrupt and systemic changes in regulatory standards? POM Wonderful LLC, a Los Angeles-based juice company, is trying to do just that by suing the FTC in District Court…. Read More
IFRAH Law
