Taking Another Look At Courts Interpreting Section 19 Of The FTC Act

After the Supreme Court held that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could no longer use Section 13(b) of the FTC Act to seek equitable monetary relief in federal court, the agency quickly ransacked the sofa, seeking spare change and any other statutory tools it could find to compensate. Section 19 of the FTC Act contained language that came closest to mirroring aspects of what made 13(b) an effective tool for decades, but with some caveats.

Section 19 has two key uses. First, after a full FTC administrative litigation that ends with a cease and desist order, the FTC can use Section 19 to go to federal court and seek monetary relief for fraudulent and dishonest conduct. Second, for many rule violations, the FTC can go straight to federal court and use Section 19 to seek redress and/or civil penalties (though the DOJ has a role to play if the relief sought includes penalties). Section 19 provides that in both types of actions, the court may "grant such relief as