A Waldron HVAC, LLC; Analysis To Aid Public Comment, 21782-21784 [2019-09955]

Agencies

• FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 94 (Wednesday, May 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21782-21784]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09955]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 182 3077]


A Waldron HVAC, LLC; Analysis 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 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 June 14, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the

[[Page 21783]]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write: ``A Waldron HVAC, LLC; 
File No. 182 3077'' on your comment, and file your comment online at 
https://www.regulations.gov by following the instructions on the web-
based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, 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: Carl H. Settlemyer (202-326-2019), 
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 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 a 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 May 8, 2019), on the World Wide Web, at 
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before June 14, 2019. 
Write ``A Waldron HVAC, LLC; File No. 182 3077'' 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 https://www.regulations.gov website.
    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 through the https://www.regulations.gov website.
    If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``A Waldron 
HVAC, LLC; File No. 182 3077'' 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.
    Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible 
website at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for 
making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive or 
confidential information. In particular, your comment should not 
include any sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone 
else'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, such as 
medical records or other individually identifiable health information. 
In addition, your comment should not include any ``trade secret or any 
commercial or financial information which . . . is privileged or 
confidential''--as provided by 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)--including in 
particular competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales 
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing 
processes, or customer names.
    Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is 
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled 
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). 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). Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in 
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has 
been posted on the public FTC website--as legally required by FTC Rule 
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC website, 
unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements 
for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General Counsel 
grants that request.
    Visit the FTC website at https://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 June 14, 2019. For information on the 
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the 
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject 
to final approval, an agreement containing a consent order as to A 
Waldron HVAC, LLC and Thomas J. Waldron (``respondents'').
    The proposed consent order (``order'') has been placed on the 
public record for 30 days for receipt of comments by interested 
persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the 
public record. After 30 days, the Commission will again review the 
order and the comments received, and will decide whether it should 
withdraw the order or make it final.
    This matter involves the respondents' use of non-disparagement 
provisions in consumer form contracts in the course of selling their 
recreational horseback riding services. The complaint alleges that the 
respondents violated Section 2(c) of the Consumer Review Fairness Act 
(``CRFA'') by offering to consumers form contracts that contained 
nondisparagement provisions made void by Section 2(b) of the CRFA. The 
CRFA defines a form contract as a contract with standardized terms, 
used in the course of selling or leasing goods or services, and imposed 
on an individual without a meaningful opportunity for such individual 
to negotiate the standardized terms.
    The order includes injunctive relief that prohibits these alleged 
violations and fences in similar and related conduct involving the use 
of contract terms that prohibit, restrict, penalize, or transfer rights 
in consumer reviews or evaluation of the respondents, their goods, or 
their services. The CRFA authorizes the Commission to seek civil 
penalties for knowing violations, but the complaint does not allege 
that the respondents' violations were knowing, and the order does not 
provide for monetary relief.
    Part I prohibits, in the sale or leasing of any good or service, 
the respondents from: Offering to any prospective customer a contract, 
or offering to any customer a renewal contract, that

[[Page 21784]]

includes a review-limiting term; requiring that a customer accept such 
a term as a condition of the respondents' fulfillment of their 
obligations under contracts entered into before the effective date of 
the order; or attempting to enforce or assert the validity of such a 
term in customer contracts entered into before the effective date of 
the order. Part I would not require that the respondents publish or 
host the content of any person, affect any other legal duty of a party 
to a contract, or affect any cause of action arising from the breach of 
such duty.
    Part II requires the respondents to notify by mail or email 
customers with whom they entered into form contracts with a non-
disparagement provision on or after March 14, 2017 that the non-
disparagement provision is void and cannot be enforced, and that those 
customers can publish their honest reviews about the respondents, even 
if their comments are negative.
    Part III requires the respondents to submit signed acknowledgments 
that relevant personnel received the order.
    Part IV requires the respondents to file compliance reports with 
the Commission, and to notify the Commission of bankruptcy filings or 
changes in company structure that might affect compliance obligations.
    Part V contains recordkeeping requirements for personnel records, 
consumer contracts, communications with consumers threatening any legal 
action relating to any review; and court filings and the company's 
discovery responses in legal actions over consumer reviews, as well as 
all records necessary to demonstrate compliance or noncompliance with 
the order.
    Part VI contains other requirements related to the Commission's 
monitoring of the respondents' order compliance.
    Part VII provides the effective dates of the order, including that, 
with exceptions, the order will terminate in 20 years.
    The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the 
order, and it is not intended to constitute an official interpretation 
of the complaint or order, or to modify the order's terms in any way.

    By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Acting Secretary.

Statement of the Federal Trade Commission

April 24, 2019

    Today, the Commission announces cases against Clixsense and i-
Dressup,\1\ which include allegations that the companies failed to 
employ reasonable security to protect consumers' sensitive data. The 
orders obtained in these matters contain strong injunctive provisions, 
including new requirements that go beyond requirements from previous 
data security orders. For example, the orders include requirements that 
a senior officer provide annual certifications of compliance to the 
Commission, and explicit provisions prohibiting the defendants from 
making misrepresentations to the third parties conducting assessments 
of their data security programs. These new requirements will provide 
greater assurances that consumers' data will be protected going 
forward.
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    \1\ Although the Commission's settlement with i-Dressup 
addresses broader COPPA violations, this statement focuses 
specifically on the data security requirements set forth in the 
proposed stipulated order.
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    Since joining the Commission, we have instructed staff to closely 
review our orders to determine whether they could be strengthened and 
improved--particularly in the areas of privacy and data security. 
Through ongoing discussions both internally and with external 
stakeholders, including through our public Hearings on Competition and 
Consumer Protection in the 21st Century and the comment process,\2\ we 
continue to consider changes to our orders. We will adjust our data 
security orders, as needed, to reflect our ongoing discussions 
regarding the FTC's remedial authority and needs, as well as the 
specific facts and circumstances of each case.
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    \2\ See, e.g., FTC Hearings on Competition and Consumer 
Protection in the 21st Century (Session 9--Data Security), Dec. 11-
12, 2018, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/ftc-hearing-competition-consumer-protection-21st-century-december-2018.
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    We are particularly committed to strengthening the order provisions 
regarding data security assessments of companies by third parties. The 
Commission expects that these third parties will faithfully assess data 
security practices to identify potential noncompliance with appropriate 
order provisions. Future orders will better ensure that third-party 
assessors know they are accountable for providing meaningful, 
independent analysis of the data practices under examination. The 
announcements today reflect the beginning of our thinking, but we 
anticipate further refinements, and these orders may not reflect the 
approach that we intend to use in every data security enforcement 
action going forward.

[FR Doc. 2019-09955 Filed 5-14-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P