FTC Targets Supplement Firm In Administrative Proceeding After Contempt Complaint Fails

Federal Judge Says Settlement Stipulation Against ‘Treats Disease’ Claims Is Ambiguous

A ruling in Maine federal court questions whether FTC could show firms made claims a product labeled as a supplement “cures, mitigates, or treats any disease." But agency's administrative complaint includes the same phrase as a stipulation among the penalties it would order.

The Federal Trade Commission pivots to an administrative proceeding in its litigation against a dietary supplement firm after a court ruled that terms US regulators commonly use to define noncompliant claims are vague and unenforceable as a stipulation in a settlement the FTC allowed the firm to enter.

After the FTC allowed Maine businesses Health Research Laboratories LLC and Whole Body Supplements LLC and their owner, Kramer Duhon,...

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