 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Price v. Philip Morris12/15/2005
the resolution of the American Brands dispute via consent order and its "extended negotiations" with "six proposed respondents" in the Lorillard matter as part of its " egulatory activity" for the year); Federal Trade Commission, Report to Congress Pursuant to the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, at 1 (December 31, 1972) (noting that by October of 1972 "almost all cigarette advertising published in this country was in compliance with the terms of consent orders" directly involving only six cigarette companies). PMUSA's characterization of the documentary record is consistent with the testimony of Dr. Peterman, a former FTC bureau director, who stated that the FTC uses consent orders to provide guidance to the entire cigarette industry.
We conclude that the FTC's informal regulatory activity, including the use of consent orders, comes within the scope of section 10b(1)'s requirement that the specific authorization be made "by laws administered by" a state or federal regulatory body. 815 ILCS 505/10b(1) (West 2000). This is consistent with our holding in Lanier, which found specific authorization for the challenged conduct in an agency staff interpretation (Lanier, 114 Ill. 2d at 17), and with the plain meaning of the statute and the public policy expressed by the legislature.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, applying Illinois law in the case of Bober v. Glaxo Wellcome PLC, 246 F.3d 934 (7th Cir. 2001), cited in Avery v. State Farm Mutual Insurance Co., 216 Ill. 2d ___, ___ (2005), found that the plaintiff's claim was properly dismissed by the district court because it was, as a matter of law, not deceptive under the Consumer Fraud Act. Bober, 246 F.3d at 940. However, because one member of the panel disagreed with this holding, the court made an alternate holding affirming the district court's conclusion that the plaintiff's claim was barred by section 10b(1) of the Consumer Fraud Act. Bober, 246 F.3d at 941 n.4.
Bober, like the present case, involved a claim of fraud in the marketing of a consumer product. The defendant drug company marketed both over-the-counter and prescription forms of the drug ranitidine, which is a stomach acid reliever. By means of its consumer hotline and other marketing practices, Glaxo indicated to Bober and other consumers that the two medicines, known as Zantac 75 and Zantac 150, were not substitutable. Bober, 246 F.3d at 936-37. In fact, although the two products contained exactly the same medication, the cost to consumers of one tablet of Zantac 150 was almost twice the cost of two 75 milligram tablets of Zantac 75. Bober, 246 F.3d at 937. Plaintiff filed a claim under the Consumer Fraud Act, alleging that Glaxo's statements that the two products were not readily substitutable were deceptive and caused consumers to pay an inflated price. Bober, 246 F.3d at 937-38.
The court noted that the "case law interpreting the relevant portion of the [Consumer Fraud Act's] exemption provision is not entirely clear on the question of what is meant by `specifically authorized.' " Bober, 246 F.3d at 940. After reviewing this court's decisions in Martin, 163 Ill. 2d 33 (discussed in detail, above), and Weatherman v. Gary-Wheaton Bank of Fox Valley, 186 Ill. 2d 472 (1999) (compliance with federal statute is defense to Consumer Fraud Act liability when the statute specifically authorizes the making of a good faith estimate of fees), the Seventh Circuit concluded that:
"Taken together, the [Illinois] cases stand for the proposition that the state [Consumer Fraud Act] will not impose higher disclosure requirements on parties than those that are sufficient to satisfy federal regulations. If the parties are doing somet
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Illinois Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|