It’s not just Las Vegas where the house almost always wins. For nearly two decades, the Federal Trade Commission has come out on top in nearly every administrative lawsuit involving allegations of unfair methods of competition. In fact, the only time it lost in the last 19 years was in February, and even then it was more of a loss by default. The commissioners deadlocked 2 to 2 along party lines, which meant that no action was taken and the administrative law judge’s ruling against the commission on a key point was final.
Still, lawyers and members of Congress challenge the FTC’s too-good-to-be-fair record, and question whether the forum is evenhanded. Last Christmas Eve, for example, Commissioner Julie Brill agreed to recuse herself in a pending case involving medical testing company LabMD Inc.’s patient information data security practices. But she did so only after LabMD’s counsel vigorously complained.
