In the wake of AMG Capital Management v. FTC and Liu v. SEC, uncertainty has loomed as to how courts should measure the consumer redress available to the FTC under Section 19 of the FTC Act. Earlier this month, a court in the District of Arizona squarely addressed this issue.
Before AMG, the FTC used its ability to obtain injunctive relief in federal court under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act for violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act to also obtain equitable monetary relief. As we’ve previously discussed, the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG put an end to that. As a result, the FTC turned to its authority under Section 19 to obtain redress for rule violations.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Liu, which we also previously covered, held that equitable monetary relief cannot exceed a defendant’s gains after legitimate business expenses. This results in the quandary of how to reconcile this with the text of Section 19, which provides for “such relief as the court finds necessary to redress injury to consumers.”