Credit Bureau Center, LLC, et al. v. Federal Trade Commission

In 2018 the Federal Trade Commission obtained a punitive disgorgement award against the Petitioners, a small credit-repair company and its owner. The judgment ordered Petitioners to surrender the company’s total gross revenue, without any reduction for legitimate business expenses, pursuant to Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act). FTC v. Credit Bureau Ctr., LLC, 325 F.Supp.3d 852, 869−70 (N.D. Ill. 2018). This Court ultimately granted review of that very decision, to address the use of Section 13(b). See FTC v. Credit Bureau Ctr., LLC, 141 S.Ct. 194 (July 9, 2020). The case was consolidated with AMG Cap. Mgmt., LLC v. FTC, 593 U.S. 67, 70 (2021), and this Court unanimously held that Section 13(b) does not “authorize[] the Commission to seek, and a court to award, equitable monetary relief such as restitution or disgorgement.” On remand, however, the FTC asked the district court to “reimpose the prior judgment pursuant to section 19 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 57(b).” FTC v. Credit Bureau Ctr., LLC, No. 17-cv-194, 2021 WL 4146884, at *1 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 13, 2021). In its opinion granting that request, the district court allowed the “FTC [to] seek[] the same remedy, for the same reasons, and for the same victims … via section 19 as it did under section 13(b).” Id. at *11. Now, before this Court for a second time, Petitioners present the following question: Whether Section 19 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 57b(b), which prohibits the award of “any exemplary or punitive damages,” empowers the Commission to