Category Archives: Federal Trade Commission

Trump fires 2 Democratic FTC Commissioners

Reuters reports the story here. The Supreme Court has ruled that presidents can’t fire FTC commissioners, but the Trump administration is challenging the ruling. If the Supreme Court overturns the precedent and upholds the firing, it will be interesting to see what happens the next time the Democrats take the presidency. The firings undermine Republican […]

DOJ takes position that FTC commissioners can be fired without cause

The letter is here. The Supreme Court held otherwise in Humphrey’s Executor, but the letter calls for overturning that decision. The Supreme Court has thus far resisted attempts to get it to revisit Humphrey’s Executor but the administration’s effort ratchets up pressure to decide the issue. If the Supreme Court decides that FTC commissioners can […]

Fifth Circuit Vacates FTC CARS Rule

Yesterday, over a dissent, the Fifth Circuit vacated the FTC’s CARS rule, which protected consumers from unfair and deceptive practices by car dealers. While the challengers lobbed many wide-ranging arguments that called into question the FTC’s authority broadly, the Fifth Circuit based its ruling solely on the agency’s failure to issue an Advanced Notice of […]

Thank you to the Biden administration consumer protectors

In some recent postings, I’ve focused on what the Trump administration will do on consumer protection, but I don’t want to lose sight of what the people who served in the CFPB, FTC, and a variety of other agencies did during the last four years to protect consumers. Consumers are much better off for their […]

“FTC, Illinois Attorney General Take Action Against Grubhub for Harming Diners, Workers, and Small Businesses”

The FTC reports: “Grubhub will pay $25 million to settle charges from the Federal Trade Commission and the Illinois Attorney General that the food delivery firm engaged in an array of unlawful practices including deceiving diners about delivery costs and blocking their access to their accounts and funds, deceiving workers about how much money they […]

FTC rule tackles junk fees in live-event ticketing, hotel stays

The Federal Trade Commission today issued a final rule on junk fees. Under the rule, businesses that offer live-event tickets or short-term lodging must clearly and conspicuously disclose the total price at the time they offer, display, or advertise their tickets or stays. This removes the possibility of surprise fees and charges that ticket buyers […]

Trump to designate Andrew Ferguson to lead FTC and nominate Mark Meador as commissioner

So reports Bryan Koenig at Law360. Meador is a partner at Kressin Meador Powers and according to his bio has served at the FTC, DOJ and as a staffer for the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has considerable antitrust experience but I’m not sure what experience, if any, he has in consumer protection. Ferguson has been […]

When is a rule “issued”? 5th Circuit says when posted on the web

Courts often grapple with the question of when an agency’s action is final for various purposes. And the answer can be different for different purposes–particularly since various statutory provisions related to judicial review use different words or phrases. For example, 47 U.S.C. s. 402 allows parties to seek review of certain FCC actions within “thirty […]

FTC announces major decline in unwanted telemarketing calls

The Federal Trade Commission reported Friday that complaints about unwanted calls are dropping – and they have been doing so for three straight years. Complaints of unwanted calls reported in 2024 decreased more than 50% from the complaints recorded in 2021 (5 million+ complaints in 2021 to ~2 million in 2024), according to FTC’s Do […]