Federal Trade Commission v. Credit Bureau Center, LLC

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Federal Trade Commission v. Credit Bureau Center, LLC. Read the opinion of the Court — 235 F. Supp. 3d 1054
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided June 26, 2018·No. 1:17-cv-00194·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. ) ) CREDIT BUREAU CENTER, LLC, ) a limited liability company, formerly ) known as MYSCORE LLC, also doing ) business as EFREESCORE.COM, ) CREDITUPDATES.COM, and ) FREECREDITNATION.COM, ) Case No. 17 C 194 ) MICHAEL BROWN, individually and as ) owner and manager of ) CREDIT BUREAU CENTER, LLC, ) ) DANNY PIERCE, individually, and ) ) ANDREW LLOYD, individually, ) ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER MATTHEW F. KENNELLY, District Judge: The FTC alleges that Danny Pierce and Andrew Lloyd operated a deceptive marketing campaign on behalf of Michael Brown and Credit Bureau Center, LLC (CBC). The campaign directed consumers to CBC websites. The FTC alleges these websites misled consumers into enrolling in a monthly credit monitoring service that cost $29.94 per month. The FTC contends this conduct violated several consumer protection laws. Pierce and Lloyd agreed to entry of a preliminary injunction against them, and after an evidentiary hearing, the Court issued a preliminary injunction against CBC and Brown on February 21, 2017. See FTC v. Credit Bureau Center, LLC, 253 F. Supp. 3d 1054 (N.D. Ill. 2017). The parties have now cross-moved for summary judgment. Background

The Court briefly reviews the background to this case, relying on the parties' filings and LR 56.1 statements. In these statements, the defendants have failed to provide "a concise response" to the FTC's statements of fact using "specific references to the affidavits, parts of the record, and other supporting materials relied upon[.]" LR 56.1(b)(3)(B). See also Malec v. Sanford, 191 F.R.D. 581, 585 (N.D. Ill. 2000) ("The purpose of the 56.1 statement is to identify for the Court the evidence supporting a party's factual assertions in an organized manner: it is not intended as a forum for factual or legal argument."). The FTC offers facts describing negative feedback to CBC in the form of phone calls, e-mails, and credit card chargebacks. The FTC also offers facts that Brown

received e-mails from particular parties involved in CBC's business that notified him of the Craigslist advertising scheme. Though the defendants' burden is to rebut these facts through contrary evidence that show the existence of a genuine factual dispute, the defendants have failed to do so. Instead they rely on an unsupported theory that it is the customers who were defrauding CBC by lying about the websites' deceptive character and other irrelevant or unfounded responses. This does not meet the requirements of Local Rule 56.1. Thus the Court deems as admitted Defs.' Resp. to Pl.'s Stmt. of Facts ¶¶ 57-61, 72-73, 80-82, 89, and 100. I. CBC and Brown Michael Brown is the owner, director, and sole employee of CBC. Independent contractors fulfilled many of CBC's marketing, sales, and customer service functions. CBC owned and operated several websites, including CreditUpdates.com,

FreeCreditNation.com, and eFreeScore.com. For a monthly subscription fee, customers can access credit scores, credit reports, and a credit monitoring service. CBC does this through two lines of business: a "white label/co-branding" line, in which other businesses can offer CBC's services under their own name, and an affiliate marketing line, in which marketers direct customers to CBC sites. Affiliates who marketed CBC's services were compensated based on the volume of customers they referred. The practices of two affiliates are at issue in this suit: Danny Pierce and Andrew Lloyd. II. Craigslist marketing Pierce became an affiliate for CBC in January 2014. As an affiliate marketer,

Pierce received an identification number by which Brown could track the volume of his referrals and determine compensation. Several months after Pierce began working as an affiliate for CBC, he asked Brown to create specific websites to which he could direct the customers he referred. CBC created these websites on December 1, 2015. The websites, which are described in detail later in this decision, advertised that consumers could obtain a "free credit score and report." In smaller type, the websites disclosed that signing up for these services would enroll the customer in a monthly credit monitoring service for $29.94 per month. Pierce, working as an affiliate marketer for CBC, contracted out some marketing functions to Andrew Lloyd. Lloyd began posting to Craigslist ads of attractive rental properties. Interested customers were invited to e-mail the "landlord" for additional information. The response e-mails were routed to Lloyd, who responded as though he were the landlord (which he wasn't). In the reply, Lloyd would ask the customer to

obtain a credit report through the CBC websites and would promise to set up a tour of the rental property once the customer had a credit report in hand. If interested, the customer would then sign up for CBC's services and then follow up with the "landlord"— but would never receive a reply. (One of these e-mails has been attached to this opinion as Appendix I; screenshots of one of the CBC websites has been attached as Appendix II.) As Pierce later testified, he knew that Lloyd was posting "phony ads," as Lloyd was "not renting these places out," was "not a realtor" and "doesn't own the place. . . . He has no connection to this property." D.E. 206, Defs.' Ex. C at 73 (Pierce Dep.). The marketing effort proved extremely effective. Pierce was the most successful of CBC's affiliate marketers: his efforts resulted in 2,741,268 visitors to CBC's websites.

(The next largest affiliate produced 369,869 visitors.) Pierce's traffic generated $6.8 million in revenue for CBC. But the effort, unsurprisingly, also generated significant customer complaints. Customers complained that they were never connected with a landlord after obtaining a credit report and that they did not realize that they had been enrolled in CBC's credit monitoring service. A contractor who provided customer services for CBC logged numerous calls from dissatisfied customers. CBC also received customer e-mails complaining about the Craigslist marketing. In response, CBC's customer service often denied that CBC was involved in the marketing effort or that CBC paid affiliate marketers for referrals. Many customers also asked their credit card company to reverse the CBC charges. Brown also received direct e-mails from many individuals about the Craigslist marketing program.1 III. Procedural posture

Customers also directed their complaints to the FTC, which commenced an investigation into CBC. The FTC sued CBC, alleging that the Craigslist marketing program and the CBC websites violated several consumer protection laws. On January 11, 2017, Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, acting as emergency judge, imposed a temporary restraining order on the defendants, restraining them from continuing the marketing program and freezing their assets. The FTC then moved for a preliminary injunction. As indicated earlier, Pierce and Lloyd agreed to the motion. CBC and Brown contested it, but the Court entered a preliminary injunction against them on February 21, 2017.

Discussion Both parties have moved for summary judgment. Summary judgment is appropriate if "the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material issue of fact." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). There is a genuine issue of material fact if "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986); FTC v.

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