On May 2, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed Senate Bill 1212 (SB 1212) into law, introducing new requirements and prohibitions under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. Specifically, SB 1212 targets the disclosure of mandatory fees and surcharges in consumer transactions.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleging Global Circulation, Inc. (GCI) and its owner, Kenneth Redon III, violated the FTC Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and its associated Regulation F, § 521 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the FTC’s Trade Regulation Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses. On May 1, the FTC announced the parties entered into a stipulated permanent injunction and money order, prohibiting GCI and Redon from any further debt collection activities.
As of April 27, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had not filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to appeal the Fifth Circuit’s decision vacating the Combating Auto Retail Scams Trade Regulation Rule (CARS Rule). The ruling, which was issued in response to a petition by the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, challenged the procedural validity of the FTC’s rulemaking process. The court found that the FTC failed to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking as required leading to the vacating of the rule.
As technology advances, so do the tactics of scammers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a data spotlight on the top text scams of 2024, revealing a significant increase in financial losses despite a decrease in the number of reports. Specifically, in 2024, reported losses to text scams reached $470 million, more than five times the amount reported in 2020. Due to a lack of reporting, this number reflects only a fraction of the actual losses.
On March 18, President Donald Trump dismissed the two Democratic commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The removal of Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter has sparked significant controversy and legal challenges.
On March 10, Christopher Mufarrige, the newly-appointed Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), published a blog explaining the significance of Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) for businesses and the ramifications for failing to respond. The Director warns that “[i]f your business receives such a demand for information, we expect you to respond in a reasonable and timely manner or face legal consequences.” The blog also provides the following primer about CIDs:
In a move that could significantly impact the auto retail industry, California has introduced Senate Bill 766, known as the California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act. Introduced by Senator Benjamin Allen (D) on February 21, this bill aims to impose stringent new regulations on auto dealers in the state, many of which echo back to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) own CARS Rule.
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a significant opinion vacating the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Combating Auto Retail Scams Trade Regulation Rule (CARS Rule). The decision came in response to a petition filed by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association (TADA), challenging the procedural validity of the rule. The petitioners argued that the FTC violated its own regulations by failing to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) before promulgating the CARS Rule. They also contended that the FTC’s cost-benefit analysis was arbitrary and capricious.
On January 3, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release announcing that accessiBe Inc. and accessiBe Ltd. (collectively, accessiBe) agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations of deceptive advertising practices in violation of the FTC Act. Specifically, the FTC’s complaint alleged that accessiBe misrepresented the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of its website accessibility tool, accessWidget, to make websites compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The FTC further alleged that accessiBe paid for reviews on third-party websites that were formatted to appear as the opinions of impartial authors and publications and failed to disclose material connections to such online reviewers.
In a significant enforcement action, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Illinois Attorney General have reached a $20 million settlement with Leader Automotive Group and its Canadian parent company, AutoCanada, over allegations of widespread consumer fraud. If entered, this settlement will be the largest monetary judgment the FTC has secured against an auto dealer.