AmeriFreight, Inc. and Marius Lehmann; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment |
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Topics: AmeriFreight
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Donald S. Clark
Federal Trade Commission
March 6, 2015
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 44 (Friday, March 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12176-12177]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-05105]
[[Page 12176]]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 142 3249]
AmeriFreight, Inc. and Marius Lehmann; Analysis of Proposed
Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these
allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 31, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/amerifreightconsent online or on paper,
by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``AmerFreight, Inc.-
Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3249'' on your comment and file your
comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/amerifreightconsent by following the instructions on the Web-based
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``AmerFreight,
Inc.- Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3249'' on your comment and on the
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
D), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victor DeFrancis, Bureau of Consumer
Protection, (202) 326-3495, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC Home Page (for February 27, 2015), on the World Wide Web,
at http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 31, 2015.
Write ``AmerFreight, Inc.- Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3249'' on
your comment. Your comment--including your name and your state--will be
placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the
extent practicable, on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the
Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact information from
comments before placing them on the Commission Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the
public interest.
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\1\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/amerifreightconsent by following the instructions on the Web-based
form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you
also may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``AmerFreight, Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3249'' on your comment and on the
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before March 31, 2015. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, see http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent
order from AmeriFreight, Inc. (``AmeriFreight'') and Marius Lehmann, an
officer of AmeriFreight (``Respondents'').
The proposed consent order (``proposed order'') has been placed on
the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by
interested persons. Comments received during this period will become
part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will
again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide
whether it should
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withdraw from the agreement or make final the agreement's proposed
order.
AmeriFreight is an automobile shipment broker--that is, it arranges
shipment of consumers' automobiles through third-party freight
carriers. This matter involves AmeriFreight's online advertising for
those services. The Commission's complaint alleges that the Respondents
violated Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act by
misrepresenting that AmeriFreight was a highly rated or top-ranked
automobile shipment broker based on its customers' unbiased reviews.
The complaint also alleges that AmeriFreight failed to disclose that it
paid consumers to post reviews.
The proposed order includes injunctive relief that prohibits these
alleged violations and fences in similar and related violations.
Part I of the Order prohibits the Respondents from misrepresenting
that their products or services are highly rated or top-ranked based on
unbiased customer reviews or that their customer reviews are unbiased.
Part II of the Order requires the Respondents, when using an
endorsement to advertise any product or service, to clearly and
prominently disclose a material connection, if one exists, between the
person providing the endorsement and Respondents.
Part III contains recordkeeping requirements for advertisements and
other documents relevant to the order.
Parts IV through VII of the proposed order require Respondents to:
Deliver a copy of the order to principals, officers, directors,
managers, employees, agents, and representatives having
responsibilities with respect to the subject matter of the order;
notify the Commission of changes in corporate structure, discontinuance
of current business or employment, or affiliation with any new business
or employment that might affect compliance obligations under the order;
and file compliance reports with the Commission.
Part VIII provides that the order will terminate after twenty (20)
years, with certain exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
proposed order, and it is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify the
proposed order's terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-05105 Filed 3-5-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P