On January 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit opined that a corporate payments company and its CEO must obey an FTC enforcement order. The appellate court affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment for the FTC on all five counts against the company and on four of the five counts against the CEO, citing “overwhelming” evidence of unfair and deceptive acts and practices.
In 2019, the FTC brought an enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia alleging five violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act against a company and its CEO claiming the company engaged in deceptive advertising by falsely promising per-gallon fuel discounts, misrepresenting that certain cards could be limited to “fuel only” purchases, and advertising that its cards carried no transaction fees. The FTC further alleged that the company engaged in unfair practices by charging unauthorized add-on and late fees, and by making deceptive billing representations that customers owed these fees. In 2022, the district court entered summary judgment in favor of the FTC, and in 2023 the court granted the FTC’s motion for permanent injunction against the company.
In its opinion, the appellate court also affirmed the lower court’s permanent injunction, barring the company from hiding fee disclosures behind hyperlinks, requiring unavoidable disclosures, and mandating separate customer assent for each fee. The court also upheld the judgment against the CEO on all but one count, which was remanded for further proceedings.
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