FTC v. Credit Bureau Center, LLC

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit

____________________

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

CREDIT BUREAU CENTER, LLC,

and MICHAEL BROWN,

Defendants-Appellants.

____________________

Appeals from the United States District Court for the

Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

No. 17 C 194 — Matthew F. Kennelly, Judge.

____________________

ARGUED APRIL 17, 2019 — DECIDED AUGUST 21, 2019

____________________

Before MANION, SYKES, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges.

SYKES, Circuit Judge. Michael Brown is the sole owner and

operator of Credit Bureau Center, a credit-monitoring ser-

vice. (We refer to both collectively as “Brown.”) Brown’s

websites used what’s known as a “negative option feature”

to attract customers. The websites offered a “free credit

report and score” while obscuring a key detail in much

smaller text: that applying for this “free” information auto-

2 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

matically enrolled customers in an unspecified $29.94

monthly “membership” subscription. The subscription was

for Brown’s credit-monitoring service, but customers learned

this information only when he sent them a letter after they

were automatically enrolled. Brown’s most successful con-

tractor capitalized on the confusion by posting Craigslist

advertisements for fake rental properties and telling appli-

cants to get a “free” credit score from Brown’s websites.

The Federal Trade Commission eventually took notice. It

sued Brown under section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Com-

mission Act (“FTCA”), 15 U.S.C. § 53(b), alleging that the

websites and referral system violated several consumer-

protection statutes. The Commission sought a permanent

injunction and restitution. Relevant here, the district judge

found that Brown was a principal for his contractor’s fraudu-

lent scheme and that the websites failed to meet certain

disclosure requirements in the Restore Online Shopper

Confidence Act (“ROSCA”). Id. § 8403. The judge entered a

permanent injunction and ordered Brown to pay more than

$5 million in restitution to the Commission.

Brown now concedes liability as a principal for his con-

tractor’s Craigslist scam. And he doesn’t dispute that his

own websites failed to meet some of ROSCA’s disclosure

requirements. So we have no trouble affirming the judge’s

decision to hold him liable for both. We also affirm the

issuance of a permanent injunction. Brown’s argument there

rests on an erroneous understanding of the Eighth Amend-

ment’s Excessive Fines Clause.

But the restitution award is a different matter. By its

terms, section 13(b) authorizes only restraining orders and

injunctions. But the Commission has long viewed it as also

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 3

authorizing awards of restitution. We endorsed that starkly

atextual interpretation three decades ago in FTC v. Amy

Travel Service, Inc., 875 F.2d 564, 571 (7th Cir. 1989). Since

Amy Travel, the Supreme Court has clarified that courts must

consider whether an implied equitable remedy is compatible

with a statute’s express remedial scheme. See Meghrig v. KFC

W., Inc., 516 U.S. 479, 487–88 (1996). And it has specifically

instructed us not to assume that a statute with “elaborate

enforcement provisions” implicitly authorizes other reme-

dies. Id. at 487.

Applying Meghrig’s instructions, we conclude that section

13(b)’s grant of authority to order injunctive relief does not

implicitly authorize an award of restitution. Every reason

Meghrig gave for not finding an implied monetary remedy

applies here. Most notably, the FTCA has two detailed

remedial provisions that expressly authorize restitution if the

Commission follows certain procedures. Our current read-

ing of section 13(b) allows the Commission to circumvent

these elaborate enforcement provisions and seek restitution

directly through an implied remedy.

Stare decisis cannot justify adherence to an approach that

Supreme Court precedent forecloses. Accordingly, we over-

rule Amy Travel and hold that section 13(b) does not author-

ize restitutionary relief.1 Because the Commission brought

this case under section 13(b), we vacate the restitution

award.

1 Because this opinion overrules circuit precedent and creates a circuit

split, we circulated it under Circuit Rule 40(e) to all judges in active

service. A majority did not favor rehearing en banc.

4 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

I. Background

In January 2014 Brown contracted with Danny Pierce to

direct customers to his credit-monitoring service. Brown

gave Pierce several functionally identical websites with

names like “eFreeScore.com” and “FreeCreditNation.com”

to use for referrals. As their names suggest, these websites

invited people to sign up for a “free credit report and score.”

But signing up for the free score also automatically enrolled

applicants in Brown’s credit-monitoring service, which

charged a monthly subscription fee.

Brown didn’t tell prospective customers about the credit-

monitoring service. His websites almost entirely focused on

the free credit score and report. Three disclaimers, buried in

much smaller font, told consumers that applying for the free

offer also enrolled them in an unspecified “membership”

subscription that cost $29.94 each month. Customers later

learned that this subscription was for credit monitoring

when Brown sent them a letter after the automatic enroll-

ment.

Pierce did nothing to clear up this confusion. Indeed, it’s

undisputed that his method for drumming up referrals was

fraudulent. He subcontracted with Andrew Lloyd, who

posted Craigslist advertisements for nonexistent rental

properties at bargain prices. Lloyd invited prospective

tenants to email the landlord. Posing as the “landlord,” he

then responded and instructed them to obtain a credit report

and score through one of Brown’s websites. But once appli-

cants got this “free” information—and were automatically

enrolled in the credit-monitoring service—Lloyd stopped

replying to emails.

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 5

The plan was effective. Pierce quickly became Brown’s

most successful recruiter. Over the course of their relation-

ship, Pierce referred more than 2.7 million customers to

Brown, generating just over $6.8 million in revenue. Unsus-

pecting customers were understandably upset. They flooded

Brown’s customer-service operators, questioning the month-

ly subscription charge. They complained that the Craigslist

advertisements were scams. And many were blindsided by

the fact that requesting a free credit score automatically

enrolled them in a costly credit-monitoring service. Brown

told his customer-service team to deny any involvement

with Pierce’s operation. And although Brown typically

agreed to cancel future charges, he often refused to issue

refunds. He also instructed his representatives to offer

reduced prices to retain customers. Some customers accept-

ed the offer, but others told their credit-card companies to

cancel Brown’s charges. Credit-card companies cancelled

more than 10,000 of Brown’s charges.

Consumers complained to the Commission, which

opened an investigation. In January 2017 it sued Brown

under section 13(b) of the FTCA seeking an injunction and

restitution. The Commission alleged that the Craigslist

advertisements violated the FTCA’s prohibition on “unfair or

deceptive acts or practices.” 15 U.S.C. § 45(a). The suit also

alleged that Brown’s websites violated the same provision of

the FTCA, as well as ROSCA, id. § 8403; the Fair Credit

Reporting Act (“FCRA”), id. § 1681j(g); and the Free Credit

Reports Rule, 12 C.F.R. §§ 1022.130–.138.

On the Commission’s motion, the judge issued a tempo-

rary injunction, froze Brown’s assets, and appointed a re-

ceiver to manage his company. Brown and the Commission

6 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

later filed cross-motions for summary judgment. In addition

to contesting liability, Brown argued that section 13(b)

doesn’t authorize an award of restitution and, alternatively,

that it doesn’t authorize penalties or legal restitution (as

opposed to equitable restitution, which requires tracing a

plaintiff’s entitlement to a particular account or fund).

The judge ruled for the Commission across the board,

holding that Brown violated the FTCA as a principal for the

Craigslist scheme and that the websites violated the FTCA,

ROSCA, the FCRA, and the Free Credit Reports Rule. The

judge issued a permanent injunction that imposed extensive

conditions on Brown’s continued involvement in the credit-

monitoring industry and ordered Brown to pay $5,260,671.36

in restitution. He also denied Brown’s motion to unfreeze

funds to pay his attorneys.

II. Discussion

Brown contests his liability, the permanent injunction,

and the restitution award. Different standards of review

apply. For liability, we review the summary judgment de

novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to

Brown and drawing reasonable inferences in his favor.

Holloway v. Soo Line R.R. Co., 916 F.3d 641, 643 (7th Cir. 2019).

We review the judge’s decision to enter a permanent injunc-

tion for abuse of discretion. SEC v. Yang, 795 F.3d 674, 681

(7th Cir. 2015). Finally, Brown’s challenge to the restitution

award raises legal questions, which we review de novo.

Breneisen v. Motorola, Inc., 656 F.3d 701, 704 (7th Cir. 2011).

A. Liability Issues

The Commission sued under section 13(b) of the FTCA,

which by its terms authorizes temporary restraining orders

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 7

and permanent injunctions to enjoin violations of federal

trade law. § 53(b)(1). To impose individual liability on the

basis of a corporate practice, the Commission must prove

(1) that the practice violated the FTCA; (2) that the individu-

al “either participated directly in the deceptive acts or

practices or had authority to control them”; and (3) that the

individual “knew or should have known about the deceptive

practices.” FTC v. World Media Brokers, 415 F.3d 758, 764 (7th

Cir. 2005).

Based on the summary-judgment record, the judge held

that Brown violated the FTCA as a principal for the

Craigslist marketing scheme contrived by Pierce and Lloyd.

He also held that Brown’s websites violated the FTCA,

ROSCA, the FCRA, and the Free Credit Reports Rule. Final-

ly, the judge concluded that Brown was individually liable

for the violations because he owned and operated all aspects

of his company.

While Brown concedes liability for the Craigslist scheme,

he challenges his liability for the website violations. He

asserts that his websites contained no misrepresentations in

violation of the FTCA and satisfied ROSCA’s disclosure

requirements. He also argues that the Commission must

enforce the FCRA and the Free Credit Reports Rule through

an internal adjudication. See 15 U.S.C. § 1681s(a)(1) (stating

that FCRA violations “shall be subject to enforcement by the

Federal Trade Commission under section 5(b) of the Federal

Trade Commission Act”).

It’s unnecessary to consider every theory of liability.

Brown’s challenges to the injunction and restitution award

do not turn on which statute his websites violated. And

section 13(b) permits the Commission to seek relief against

8 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

Brown for violating “any provision of law” it enforces.

§ 53(b).

So we start and end with ROSCA, which restricts the use

of a “negative option feature” to sell goods or services on the

Internet. § 8403. A negative-option feature is “a provision [in

an offer] under which the customer’s silence or failure to

take an affirmative action to reject goods or services or to

cancel the agreement is interpreted by the seller as ac-

ceptance of the offer.” 16 C.F.R. § 310.2(w); see also § 8403

(incorporating this definition by reference). ROSCA prohib-

its this feature unless the seller “(1) provides text that clearly

and conspicuously discloses all material terms of the trans-

action before obtaining the consumer’s billing information;

(2) obtains a consumer’s express informed consent before

charging the consumer … ; and (3) provides simple mecha-

nisms for a consumer to stop recurring charges.” § 8403.

ROSCA violations are “unfair or deceptive acts or practices”

under the FTCA, so the Commission can use the FTCA’s

enforcement regime against violators. Id. § 8404.

There’s no dispute that Brown used a negative-option

feature to enroll customers in his credit-monitoring service.

The only question is whether he complied with ROSCA’s

disclosure requirements. In the apt words of the district

judge, Brown’s websites were “virtually devoid of any

mention of the [credit-monitoring] service aside from the

statement that the customer is to be billed for it.” Moreover,

Brown concealed this incomplete disclosure behind more

prominent language offering a free credit score and report.

The judge determined that these partial and obscure disclo-

sures did not “clearly and conspicuously disclose[] all

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 9

material terms of the transaction” or ensure that customers

gave “express informed consent.” § 8403(1)–(2).

Brown focuses on the conclusion that the disclosures

weren’t conspicuous. He parses font sizes, details his web-

sites’ color schemes, and takes a microscope to the Commis-

sion’s affidavits in an effort to highlight evidence that

consumers read and understood the disclosures. But he

gives only passing attention to the decisive point: His web-

sites didn’t provide certain information that ROSCA re-

quires—namely, that the subscription was for a credit-

monitoring service.

This oversight is fatal to Brown’s defense. Setting aside

whether his disclosures satisfied the “clear and conspicu-

ous” standard (and on that point we see nothing unsound in

the judge’s ruling that they did not), Brown violated ROSCA

if the disclosures failed to provide “all material terms of the

transaction.” § 8403(1). The service Brown provided in

exchange for the subscription is clearly a material term. See

Material Term, BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY (10th ed. 2014) (“A

contractual provision dealing with a significant issue such as

subject matter … or the work to be done.”). And the websites

did not tell consumers that they were enrolling in a credit-

monitoring service. Brown seeks refuge in the form letter

that he delivered to new subscribers, which did provide this

information. But ROSCA required Brown to disclose the

material terms “before obtaining the consumer’s billing

information.” § 8403. Brown protests that he sent the letter

“almost instantaneously” upon subscription. But almost

instantaneously is still too late under ROSCA.

Brown next contends that even if corporate liability is es-

tablished, he should not be held personally liable. But it’s

10 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

undisputed that he controlled the websites and was aware of

their content. That’s enough to establish personal liability for

the ROSCA violations.

B. The Permanent Injunction

The judge held that Brown’s conduct warranted a per-

manent injunction, applying our standard under the Securi-

ties and Exchange Act. See Yang, 795 F.3d at 681 (asking

whether “there is a reasonable likelihood of future violations

in order to obtain [injunctive] relief”) (quotation marks

omitted). The ensuing injunction imposes extensive re-

quirements on Brown if he ever operates a credit-monitoring

business again.

We don’t need to decide whether our standard for an in-

junction under the Securities and Exchange Act also applies

to section 13(b) because Brown’s challenge doesn’t turn on

that question. His attack on the injunction rests largely on

the Excessive Fines Clause. U.S. CONST. amend. VIII. He

contends that the injunction is unconstitutionally harsh and

disproportionate. But he skips a necessary step in the analy-

sis—whether the injunction is a “fine” at all. It’s not. The

Supreme Court has limited “fines” to “cash [or] in-kind

payment[s] imposed by and payable to the government.”

Dep’t of Hous. & Urban Dev. v. Rucker, 535 U.S. 125, 136 n.6

(2002) (quotation marks omitted); see also Zamora-Mallari v.

Mukasey, 514 F.3d 679, 695 (7th Cir. 2008) (“The Board’s

removal order … is not a ‘fine,’ and thus the Excessive Fine

Clause of the Eighth Amendment does not apply.”). Because

an injunction isn’t a fine, the permanent injunction doesn’t

implicate the Excessive Fines Clause.

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 11

Brown also offers an assortment of drive-by arguments,

all of which are too undeveloped to establish an abuse of

discretion. See Roger Whitmore’s Auto. Serv., Inc. v. Lake Coun-

ty, 424 F.3d 659, 664 n.2 (7th Cir. 2005) (“It is the parties’ duty

to package, present, and support their arguments … .”). We

affirm the permanent injunction.

C. The Restitution Award

The bulk of Brown’s appeal challenges the restitution or-

der. His primary argument is that section 13(b) does not

authorize an award of restitution. This is fundamentally a

question of statutory interpretation, but it’s obscured by

layers of caselaw, so bear with us while we untangle the

knot. A brief overview of the FTCA’s remedial structure is

helpful to a proper understanding of section 13(b), so we

begin there.

The FTCA gives the Commission several tools to enforce

the Act’s prohibition on unfair or deceptive trade practices.

Under its “cease and desist” power, the Commission adjudi-

cates a case before an administrative law judge, who can

issue an order prohibiting the respondent from engaging in

the illegal conduct at issue. See 15 U.S.C. § 45(b). This order

becomes final if it survives administrative appeal and judi-

cial review. Id. § 45(g).

A final cease-and-desist order empowers the Commission

to sue the violator for legal and equitable relief, but only if “a

reasonable man would have known under the circumstances

[that the conduct] was dishonest or fraudulent.” Id.

§ 57b(a)(2), (b). After it becomes final, the order also draws a

line in the sand for both the respondent and anyone else

who engages in the prohibited conduct. If the respondent

12 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

later violates the order, the Commission can sue for civil

penalties and any equitable relief “the court finds neces-

sary.” Id. § 45(l). If anyone else engages in the prohibited

conduct after the order becomes final, the Commission can

seek civil penalties if it can prove that the violator acted with

“actual knowledge” that his conduct was unlawful. Id.

§ 45(m)(1)(B).

The Commission has two other enforcement mechanisms

at its disposal. First, it can promulgate rules that “define

with specificity acts or practices which are unfair or decep-

tive.” Id. § 57a(a)(1)(B). By preemptively resolving whether

certain conduct violates the FTCA, rulemaking permits the

Commission to pursue “quick enforcement” actions against

violators. Nicholas R. Parrillo, Federal Agency Guidance and

the Power to Bind: An Empirical Study of Agencies and Indus-

tries, 36 YALE J. ON REG. 165, 225–26 (2019). Once the

Commission promulgates a rule, it can seek legal and equi-

table remedies, including restitution, from violators. See

15 U.S.C. § 57b(a)(1), (b). And if it establishes that a violator

had “actual knowledge or knowledge fairly implied on the

basis of objective circumstances” that his conduct violated a

rule, the Commission can also pursue civil penalties. Id.

§ 45(m)(1)(A).

The Commission’s remaining enforcement mechanism is

different. Under section 13(b) of the FTCA, the Commission

can forego any administrative adjudication or rulemaking

and directly pursue a temporary restraining order and a

preliminary or permanent injunction in federal court.

§ 53(b). As noted, the Commission sued Brown under this

provision.

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 13

1. Section 13(b)

The restitution order against Brown rests on section

13(b)’s permanent-injunction provision, which states that “in

proper cases the Commission may seek, and after proper

proof, the court may issue, a permanent injunction.” Id.

Brown’s straightforward argument is that section 13(b)

doesn’t authorize restitution because it doesn’t mention

restitution.

We start with the obvious: Restitution isn’t an injunction.

“Injunction” is of course a broad term. See Injunction,

BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY (10th ed. 2014) (“A court order

commanding or preventing an action.”). But statutory

authorizations for injunctions don’t encompass other dis-

crete forms of equitable relief like restitution. See, e.g.,

Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 484 (“[N]either [a mandatory or prohibi-

tory injunction] contemplates … equitable restitution.”)

(quotation marks omitted); Owner-Operator Indep. Drivers

Ass’n v. Landstar Sys., Inc., 622 F.3d 1307, 1324 (11th Cir. 2010)

(“Injunctive relief constitutes a distinct type of equitable

relief; it is not an umbrella term that encompasses restitution

or disgorgement.”); see also Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes,

564 U.S. 338, 365 (2011) (holding that an equitable order for

backpay isn’t an injunction); Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 430

(2009) (“Whether [a deportation stay] might technically be

called an injunction is beside the point; that is not the label

by which it is generally known.”).

The Commission doesn’t seriously argue otherwise. It in-

stead contends that section 13(b) implicitly authorizes restitu-

tion. We endorsed that reading in Amy Travel, 875 F.2d at 571,

which Brown asks us to overturn. We’ll discuss Amy Travel

in a moment, but we begin with a closer look at the FTCA

14 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

itself. If the Commission’s reading is correct, there’s no need

to reconsider our precedent.

Section 13(b) provides:

Whenever the Commission has reason to be-

lieve--

(1) that any person, partnership, or corpora-

tion is violating, or is about to violate, any pro-

vision of law enforced by the Federal Trade

Commission, and

(2) that the enjoining thereof pending the

issuance of a complaint by the Commission

and until such complaint is dismissed by the

Commission or set aside by the court on re-

view, or until the order of the Commission

made thereon has become final, would be in

the interest of the public--

the Commission … may bring suit in a district

court of the United States to enjoin any such

act or practice. Upon a proper showing that,

weighing the equities and considering the

Commission’s likelihood of ultimate success,

such action would be in the public interest, and

after notice to the defendant, a temporary re-

straining order or a preliminary injunction may

be granted without bond: Provided, however,

That if a complaint is not filed within such pe-

riod (not exceeding 20 days) as may be speci-

fied by the court after issuance of the

temporary restraining order or preliminary in-

junction, the order or injunction shall be dis-

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 15

solved by the court and be of no further force

and effect: Provided further, That in proper cases

the Commission may seek, and after proper

proof, the court may issue, a permanent injunc-

tion. …

An implied restitution remedy doesn’t sit comfortably

with the text of section 13(b). Consider its requirement that

the defendant must be “violating” or “about to violate” the

law. Requiring ongoing or imminent harm matches the

forward-facing nature of injunctions. See 11A CHARLES ALAN

WRIGHT ET AL., FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 2942, at

47 (3d ed. 2013) (“[I]njunctive relief looks to the future and is

designed to deter … .”). Conversely, restitution is a remedy

for past actions. See 1 DAN. B. DOBBS, LAW OF REMEDIES

§ 4.1(1), at 551 (2d ed. 1993) (“Restitution is a return or

restoration of what the defendant has gained in a transac-

tion.”). Beyond the conceptual tension, this requirement

raises an illogical implication: It would condition the

Commission’s ability to secure restitution for past conduct

on the existence of ongoing or imminent unlawful conduct.

Section 13(b)’s second requirement—that the Commis-

sion must reasonably believe that enjoining an ongoing or

imminent violation would be in the public interest—raises a

similar problem. The public interest in stopping or prevent-

ing a violation is distinct from the public interest in remedy-

ing a past harm. And yet the Commission’s reading ties

restitution to this inapposite inquiry.

The rest of section 13(b) is likewise keyed to injunctions,

not other forms of equitable relief. For example, the statute

conditions the district court’s authority to issue a temporary

restraining order or preliminary injunction on injunction-

16 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

specific requirements—such as “weighing the equities and

considering the Commission’s likelihood of ultimate suc-

cess”—and dissolves the order or injunction within 20 days

if the Commission doesn’t issue an administrative complaint.

§ 53(b). These demands don’t apply to equitable restitution,

which has its own preconditions. See Great-West Life &

Annuity Ins. Co. v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204, 212–15 (2002).

True, this appeal concerns section 13(b)’s permanent-

injunction provision, not the provision governing temporary

restraining orders and preliminary injunctions, which is tied

to the subsequent initiation of an administrative proceeding.

And we have held that at least some of section 13(b)’s re-

quirements don’t apply to permanent injunctions. See United

States v. JS & A Grp., 716 F.2d 451, 456–57 (7th Cir. 1983)

(holding that the Commission can seek a permanent injunc-

tion without initiating an internal adjudication). But see FTC

v. Shire ViroPharma, Inc., 917 F.3d 147, 156 (3d Cir. 2019)

(requiring the Commission to allege an ongoing or imminent

violation to receive a permanent injunction). But that’s

beside the point. Even if some of section 13(b)’s requirements

do not apply to permanent injunctions, they inform the

meaning of “injunction.” We see no contextual support for

giving vastly different meanings to section 13(b)’s two uses

of the word “injunction.” See Hall v. United States, 566 U.S.

506, 519 (2012) (“At bottom, identical words and phrases

within the same statute should normally be given the same

meaning.”) (quotation marks omitted). And in any event, we

haven’t drawn an interpretive distinction in the past. See FTC

v. Elders Grain, Inc., 868 F.2d 901, 907 (7th Cir. 1989) (holding

that section 13(b)’s preliminary-injunction provision also

authorizes implied equitable relief).

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 17

The FTCA’s two other enforcement provisions amplify

the poor fit between section 13(b) and restitution. Both use

more than the word “injunction” to authorize other forms of

equitable relief. As discussed, when a person violates a final

cease-and-desist order, the district courts are empowered to

“grant mandatory injunctions and such other and further

equitable relief as they deem appropriate.” § 45(l) (emphasis

added). And when someone engages in conduct prohibited

by a rule, the FTCA authorizes “such relief as the court finds

necessary … , [including] the refund of money or return of

property.” § 57b(b) (emphasis added).

The absence of similar language in section 13(b) is con-

spicuous. “[W]here Congress includes particular language in

one section of a statute but omits it in another section of the

same Act, it is generally presumed that Congress acts inten-

tionally and purposely in the disparate inclusion or exclu-

sion.” Nken, 556 U.S. at 430 (quotation marks omitted). This

instruction applies with particular force here, where Con-

gress simultaneously expanded § 45(l) to allow for “other

and further equitable relief” and enacted section 13(b)

without this language. See Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authoriza-

tion Act, Pub. L. No. 93-153, § 408, 87 Stat. 576, 591 (1973).

Moreover, Congress expressly approved restitution as a

remedy under § 57b(b) two years after enacting section 13(b).

See Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, Pub. L. No. 93-637, § 206,

88 Stat. 2183, 2202 (1975). If section 13(b) permitted restitu-

tion as a general matter, Congress would have had no reason

to enact § 57b, which authorizes restitution under narrower

circumstances.

Remedial scope isn’t the only difference between section

13(b) and the FTCA’s other enforcement mechanisms. The

18 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

latter procedures also impose a detailed framework that the

Commission must follow before obtaining a restitution

order. This framework counterbalances the FTCA’s amor-

phous “unfair or deceptive practices” standard by requiring

the Commission to give defendants fair notice, either

through cease-and-desist orders or rules that “define with

specificity” prohibited acts. §§ 45(b); 57a(a)(1). The Commis-

sion can bypass these notice requirements only if it obtains a

cease-and-desist order against a violator, brings a suit in

court, and then establishes that the prohibited practice “is

one which a reasonable man would have known under the

circumstances was dishonest or fraudulent.” § 57b(a)(2).

Finally, the FTCA imposes a three-year statute of limitations

on bringing actions against most violators. § 57b(d).

Section 13(b) doesn’t offer any of these protections. And

yet the Commission contends that it provides an unqualified

right to the very remedies that the FTCA’s other enforcement

provisions give with heavy qualification. Reading an im-

plied restitution remedy into section 13(b) makes these other

provisions largely pointless. Without a clear textual signal,

we cannot presume that Congress implicitly made such a

consequential shift in policy. See Whitman v. Am. Trucking

Ass’ns, Inc., 531 U.S. 457, 468 (2001) (“Congress … does not

alter the fundamental details of a regulatory scheme in

vague terms or ancillary provisions … .”).

The tensions we’ve just discussed dissipate if we read

section 13(b) to mean what it says: The remedy is limited to

injunctive relief. In fact, giving section 13(b) its plain mean-

ing harmonizes the three enforcement mechanisms. The

FTCA gives the Commission a pair of backward-facing

methods to obtain monetary relief for past injury. Its cease-

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 19

and-desist power targets individual violations. See § 45(b).

And its rule-enforcement authority under § 57b(a)(1) allows

it to more efficiently address widespread unfair or deceptive

practices. See Parrillo, supra, at 225–26.

Section 13(b) serves a different, forward-facing role: en-

joining ongoing and imminent future violations. This au-

thority aligns with the predicate requirements it imposes—

notably, a reasonable belief that a violation is ongoing or

imminent and that stopping the violation is in the public

interest. § 53(b). It also explains the lack of procedural

protections. As Congress reported when enacting section

13(b), the Commission’s existing enforcement processes

couldn’t quickly address ongoing or imminent violations. See

§ 408(a)(1), 87 Stat. 576, 591 (finding that the Commission

had “been restricted and hampered because of inadequate

legal authority … to seek preliminary injunctive relief to

avoid unfair competitive practices”) (emphasis added).

Section 13(b) corrected this problem, providing an expedited

pathway to injunctive relief. See id. § 408(b) (noting that the

“purpose of [the] act” was to give the Commission “the

requisite authority to insure prompt enforcement of the laws

[it] administers by granting statutory authority … to seek

preliminary injunctive relief”) (emphasis added).

The Commission’s argument to the contrary rests almost

entirely on the saving clause in § 57b(e): “Remedies provid-

ed in this section are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any

other remedy or right of action provided by State or Federal

law. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect any

authority of the Commission under any other provision of

law.” According to the Commission, § 57b(e) explains away

20 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

the tensions that its reading of section 13(b) otherwise

creates.

We disagree for two reasons. To start, the Commission’s

understanding of the saving clause runs against more than a

century of interpretive practice. The Supreme Court has long

instructed that acts “cannot be held to destroy [themselves]”

through saving clauses. Tex. & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Abilene Cotton

Oil Co., 204 U.S. 426, 446 (1907); accord Adams Express Co. v.

Croninger, 226 U.S. 491, 507 (1913); Nader v. Allegheny Airlines,

Inc., 426 U.S. 290, 299 (1976); Am. Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Cent. Office

Tel., Inc., 524 U.S. 214, 228 (1998). Put differently, we cannot

read a saving clause to “allow specific provisions of the

statute that contains it to be nullified.” PMC, Inc. v. Sherwin-

Williams Co., 151 F.3d 610, 618 (7th Cir. 1998). This principle

extends to claims that a particular statutory provision im-

plicitly authorizes new remedies. See Middlesex Cty. Sewerage

Auth. v. Nat’l Sea Clammers Ass’n, 453 U.S. 1, 15–16 (1981) (“It

is doubtful that the phrase ‘any statute’ [in a saving clause]

includes the very statute in which this statement was con-

tained.”). As we’ve explained, the Commission’s reading of

section 13(b) effectively nullifies § 57b. We cannot read

§ 57b(e) to authorize that self-defeating effect.

And even if the Commission’s reading of the saving

clause were correct, we couldn’t infer a right to restitution in

section 13(b). The saving clause preserves only those reme-

dies that exist. It does not inform the question whether

section 13(b) contains an implied power to award restitution.

The Commission also suggests that Congress “ratified”

an implied section 13(b) restitution remedy in its 1993 and

2006 amendments to the FTCA. We disagree. The 1993

amendment reworked section 13(b)’s venue and service-of-

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 21

process provisions but didn’t alter its remedial scope. The

2006 amendment fares no better as a prop for the Commis-

sion’s argument. It simply empowered the Commission to

use “[a]ll remedies available to [it] with respect to unfair and

deceptive acts or practices … , including restitution,” when

prosecuting certain violations in foreign commerce.

§ 45(a)(4)(B). The Commission contends that the use of

“restitution” in this provision refers to an implied restitution

remedy in section 13(b). But the FTCA expressly authorizes

restitution through § 45(l) and § 57b(b). So the 2006 amend-

ment says nothing about the Commission’s authority to seek

that remedy under section 13(b).

In short, nothing in the text or structure of the FTCA

supports an implied right to restitution in section 13(b),

which by its terms authorizes only injunctions. Unsurpris-

ingly, the Commission wagers nearly all of its case on stare

decisis rather than the plain meaning of section 13(b). So we

turn to that question.

2. The Road to Amy Travel

The Commission correctly observes that we addressed a

materially identical challenge to the scope of section 13(b) in

Amy Travel, 875 F.2d 564. Brown in turn invites us to revisit

that decision in light of intervening Supreme Court deci-

sions. We of course can do so. “Although we must give

considerable weight to our prior decisions, we are not bound

by them absolutely and may overturn circuit precedent for

compelling reasons.” Russ v. Watts, 414 F.3d 783, 788 (7th Cir.

2005). An intervening Supreme Court decision that displaces

the rationale of our precedent is one such reason. See Glaser

v. Wound Care Consultants, Inc., 570 F.3d 907, 915 (7th Cir.

2009).

22 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

Brown’s invitation implicates a line of Supreme Court

precedents long predating Amy Travel. The prevailing inter-

pretation of section 13(b) developed in the shadow of two

decisions that took a capacious view of implied remedies:

Porter v. Warner Holding Co., 328 U.S. 395 (1946), and Mitchell

v. Robert DeMario Jewelry, Inc., 361 U.S. 288 (1960). To under-

stand Amy Travel, we must begin with them.

Porter considered section 205(a) of the Emergency Price

Control Act of 1942, which limited the rent that certain

landlords could collect from their tenants. The act empow-

ered district courts to issue a “permanent or temporary

injunction, restraining order, or other order” against persons

who collect rents above its limits. Porter, 328 U.S. at 397. The

Court held that section 205(a) authorizes restitution, offering

this reasoning:

Unless otherwise provided by statute, all the

inherent equitable powers of the District Court

are available for the proper and complete exer-

cise of [its equitable] jurisdiction. … Unless a

statute in so many words, or by a necessary

and inescapable inference, restricts the court’s

jurisdiction in equity, the full scope of that ju-

risdiction is to be recognized and applied. The

great principles of equity, securing complete

justice, should not be yielded to light infer-

ences, or doubtful construction.

Id. at 398 (citations and quotation marks omitted).

Porter later clarified that implied remedies must be “con-

sistent with the statutory language and policy, the legislative

background and the public interest.” Id. at 403; see also id. at

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 23

400 (“In framing such remedies under § 205(a), courts must

act primarily to effectuate the policy of the Emergency Price

Control Act and to protect the public interest while giving

necessary respect to the private interests involved.”). In

short, Porter adopted a presumption in favor of implying

equitable remedies that accord with statutory purpose. But it

also recognized that an express statement or a “necessary

and inescapable inference” to the contrary could rebut this

presumption. Id. at 398.

Returning to the Price Control Act, the Court held that

restitution was a proper “other order” under section 205(a).

Id. at 399. It offered two justifications. First, restitution could

be an “equitable adjunct to an injunction.” Id. Second, resti-

tution advanced the purpose of the statute. See id. at 400

(“[T]he statutory policy of preventing inflation is plainly

advanced if prices or rents which have been collected in the

past are reduced to their legal maximums.”). Still, the Court

found that an “inescapable inference” foreclosed one partic-

ular remedy. The statute’s separate right of action for dam-

ages “provide[d] an exclusive remedy relative to damages.”

Id. at 401. But “save [this] one aspect,” the statute invoked

“the broad equitable jurisdiction that inheres in courts.” Id.

at 403.

In Mitchell the Court applied Porter to section 17 of the

Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), which gave district

courts the jurisdiction to “restrain violations” of the statuto-

ry prohibition on firing employees for reporting workplace

violations. 361 U.S. at 289. After quoting Porter’s broad

language about equitable remedies, Mitchell reiterated that

implied remedies must fit with the statutory purpose:

“When Congress entrusts to an equity court the enforcement

24 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

of prohibitions contained in a regulatory enactment, it must

be taken to have acted cognizant of the historic power of

equity to provide complete relief in light of the statutory

purposes.” Id. at 291–92.

Applying Porter’s presumption, the Court drew on its

understanding of the FLSA’s purpose, which was to achieve

“minimum labor standards” by using worker complaints as

a private enforcement mechanism. Id. at 292. The Court

reasoned that restitution furthered that purpose. Without it,

the “fear of economic retaliation” would stifle worker com-

plaints. Id.

Mitchell then assessed whether anything in the FLSA pre-

cluded restitution as an implied remedy. The defendants

pointed to the statute’s ban on awarding unpaid minimum

wages and overtime compensation as one such provision,

but the Court disagreed. It found “no indication in the

language of the [ban], or in the legislative history, that

Congress intended [it] to have a wider effect.” Id. at 294.

Porter and Mitchell were typical of their era: The Court

would resolve ambiguities by identifying a statute’s purpose

and “deducing the result most consonant with that pur-

pose.” William N. Eskridge Jr., Politics Without Romance:

Implications of Public Choice Theory for Statutory Interpretation,

74 VA. L. REV. 275, 282 (1988); see also John F. Manning,

Foreword: The Means of Constitutional Power, 128 HARV. L. REV.

1, 16–17 (2014) (“However clearly Congress framed its

statutes, the Court could rework them to fit with the back-

ground policies that inspired them.”). Using this interpretive

approach, the Court assumed that the judiciary could freely

craft remedies to fully enforce whatever rights Congress had

recognized. See Frank H. Easterbrook, Foreword: The Court

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 25

and the Economic System, 98 HARV. L. REV. 4, 45–51 (1983). As

the Court would proclaim four years after Mitchell, “it is the

duty of the courts to be alert to provide such remedies as are

necessary to make effective the congressional purpose.”

J. I. Case Co. v. Borak, 377 U.S. 426, 433 (1964).

* * *

Lower-court interpretations of section 13(b) built on

Porter and Mitchell. The trail starts with FTC v. H. N. Singer,

Inc., 668 F.2d 1108 (9th Cir. 1982). There the Ninth Circuit

held that section 13(b)’s permanent-injunction provision

implicitly authorizes preliminary injunctions and asset

freezes.2 Id. at 1113. While its analysis was cursory, Singer

channeled Porter and Mitchell. The court held that prelimi-

nary injunctions and asset freezes advanced section 13(b)’s

purpose by ensuring that assets were available at the end of

the enforcement process. Singer also rejected the defendant’s

claim that the express equitable remedies in § 57b foreclosed

implied remedies in section 13(b), pointing to the saving

clause in § 57b(e).

Singer sparked a line of appellate cases holding that sec-

tion 13(b) is a broad grant of equitable authority. The Elev-

2 Shortly before Singer, the Fifth Circuit held that section 13(b)’s

preliminary-injunction provision implicitly authorizes asset freezes. See

FTC v. Sw. Sunsites, Inc., 665 F.2d 711, 718 (5th Cir. 1982). But its holding

appeared to preclude the possibility of restitution in section 13(b),

pointing instead to § 57b for monetary remedies. Id. at 719 (“[T]he

exhortation in [Mitchell] to preserve the possibility of complete relief …

makes it appropriate to consider that the final, complete relief in this case

may entail consumer redress through a [§ 57b] proceeding.”). Predicta-

bly, no circuit has materially relied on Southwest Sunsites to support an

implied restitution award.

26 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

enth Circuit followed Singer’s lead two years later. After

quoting Porter’s language on implied remedies, the court

concluded that it “agree[d] with Singer’s interpretation of

[section] 13(b)” and without further discussion held that

section 13(b) authorizes asset freezes. FTC v. U.S. Oil & Gas

Corp., 748 F.2d 1431, 1434 (11th Cir. 1984) (per curiam).

Our decision in FTC v. World Travel Vacation Brokers, Inc.,

861 F.2d 1020 (7th Cir. 1988), was next. There, the defendant

passingly suggested that section 13(b)’s permanent-

injunction provision does not implicitly authorize prelimi-

nary injunctions. (Recall that the statute’s express authoriza-

tion for temporary restraining orders and preliminary

injunctions is tied to the eventual initiation of an administra-

tive proceeding.) We held that the defendant waived the

argument, but we discussed the issue anyway “in order to

satisfactorily explain our disposition of … other issues.” Id.

at 1026. Because it was dicta, our reasoning was understand-

ably brief. We simply quoted language from Singer and

noted that we had “no reason to disagree with the conclu-

sion of our colleagues of the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits

that the authority to grant permanent injunctive relief also

includes the authority to grant interlocutory relief.” Id. Other

than distinguishing a prior decision, we did not discuss the

matter further.

Two months after World Travel, we concluded in Elders

Grain that section 13(b)’s preliminary-injunction provision

implicitly authorizes rescission. 868 F.2d at 907. Perhaps

because the parties didn’t dispute the issue, our analysis was

again cursory. But it was highly consequential. We articulat-

ed a new standard for inferring equitable remedies: “[T]he

statutory grant of the power to issue a preliminary injunc-

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 27

tion carries with it the power to issue whatever ancillary

equitable relief is necessary to the effective exercise of the

granted power.” Id. Notably absent was any inquiry into

whether an implied remedy was compatible with the statu-

tory text and structure or whether Congress precluded the

implied remedy. We instead would permit whatever implied

remedies furthered the exercise of the express remedy.

The effect of this reasoning was evident in our justifica-

tion for inferring the power to order rescission. We simply

restated the facts of the case, which involved a transaction

timed to avoid the Commission’s review, and observed that

“[t]o reward these tactics by holding that a district court has

no power under section 13(b) to rescind a consummated

transaction would go far toward rendering the statute a dead

letter.” Id.

We extended Elders Grain to the permanent-injunction

provision three months later in Amy Travel. The district court

had ordered the defendants to pay more than $6 million in

restitution to the Commission. Amy Travel, 875 F.2d at 570.

The defendants argued on appeal that nothing in section

13(b) authorized monetary relief. We disagreed, explaining

that our then-recent decisions in World Travel and Elders

Grain “thwarted” the defendants’ arguments. Id. at 571. In

particular, we said that the reasoning in Elders Grain applied

“with equal force” to the permanent-injunction provision.

We adopted that expansive formulation, holding that section

13(b)’s “statutory grant of authority to the district court to

issue permanent injunctions includes the power to order any

ancillary equitable relief necessary to effectuate the exercise

of the granted powers.” Id. at 572. But unlike Elders Grain, we

never addressed how an award of restitution was “necessary

28 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

to effectuate the exercise” of the power to issue an injunc-

tion. We simply noted that restitution was a “proper form[]

of ancillary relief.” Id. at 571.

Our approach in Amy Travel became the standard. Some

circuits held, on a similarly brief analysis, that section 13(b)

categorically authorizes the court’s “full equitable powers,”

including restitution. See FTC v. Gem Merch. Corp., 87 F.3d

466, 470 (11th Cir. 1996) (emphasis added); FTC v. Sec. Rare

Coin & Bullion Corp., 931 F.2d 1312, 1314–15 (8th Cir. 1991).

Others simply cited Amy Travel or other decisions to reach

the same conclusion. See FTC v. Bronson Partners, LLC,

654 F.3d 359, 365 (2d Cir. 2011); FTC v. Freecom Commc’ns,

Inc., 401 F.3d 1192, 1203 (10th Cir. 2005); FTC v. Pantron I.

Corp., 33 F.3d 1088, 1102 (9th Cir. 1994); see also FTC v. Ross,

743 F.3d 886, 891 (4th Cir. 2014) (conceding that “arguments

about how the structure, history, and purpose of the [FTCA]

weigh against the conclusion that district courts have the

authority to award consumer redress … are not entirely

unpersuasive” but allowing restitution because of Porter,

Mitchell, and uniform circuit practice).

To be sure, these decisions have attracted some judicial

skepticism. See Shire ViroPharma, 917 F.3d at 156, 161 n.19

(declining to decide whether section 13(b) authorizes mone-

tary relief but concluding that it wasn’t “meant to duplicate

[§ 45(b)], which already prohibits past conduct”); FTC v.

AMG Capital Mgmt., LLC, 910 F.3d 417, 429 (9th Cir. 2018)

(O’Scannlain, J., concurring) (disagreeing with the prevailing

interpretation). But the view that section 13(b) implicitly

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 29

authorizes restitution has largely escaped critical examina-

tion.3

We have affirmed restitution awards under section 13(b)

three times since Amy Travel. See United States v. Tankersley,

96 F. App’x 419, 422 (7th Cir. 2004); FTC v. Think Achievement

Corp., 312 F.3d 259, 262 (7th Cir. 2002); FTC v. Febre, 128 F.3d

530, 534 (7th Cir. 1997). But Brown is the first litigant to

question our precedent.

3. Modern Implied-Remedies Jurisprudence

The Supreme Court’s understanding of implied remedies

evolved after Porter and Mitchell. Though the Court contin-

ued to presume that courts could “use any available remedy

to afford full relief” when a party had a general statutory

cause of action, over time it began to emphasize that this

presumption “yields where necessary to carry out the intent

of Congress or to avoid frustrating the purposes of the

statute involved.” Gebser v. Lago Vista Indep. Sch. Dist.,

524 U.S. 274, 284 (1998) (quoting Guardians Ass'n v. Civil Serv.

Comm'n, 463 U.S. 582, 595 (1983) (White, J., op.)); see also

California v. Sierra Club, 451 U.S. 287, 297 (1981) (“The federal

3 Chief Judge Wood’s dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc relies

heavily on FTC v. Bronson Partners, LLC, 654 F.3d 359 (2d Cir. 2011), but

there the Second Circuit summarily followed the lead of other circuits in

reading section 13(b) to include an implied power to order restitution. Id.

at 365. The court quickly moved on to, and thoroughly considered, a

wholly different question: whether the implied restitution remedy is

equitable or legal. The lengthy passages quoted in the chief judge’s

dissent relate to that second-order question. Moreover, Bronson rejected

the view that the plain meaning of “injunction” encompasses restitution.

Id. at 367 (approving restitution because “section 13(b) does not limit the

district court to awarding only injunctions”) (emphasis added).

30 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

judiciary will not engraft a remedy on a statute, no matter

how salutary, that Congress did not intend to provide.”). In

particular, the Court now recognizes the importance of

Congress’s choice to specify forms of relief. See, e.g., Franklin

v. Gwinnett Cty. Pub. Sch., 503 U.S. 60, 69 n.6 (1992) (noting

that the presumption in favor of relief doesn’t apply “under

a statute that expressly enumerated the remedies available to

plaintiffs”); see also Karahalios v. Nat’l Fed’n of Fed. Emps.,

489 U.S. 527, 533 (1989) (“It is … an elemental canon of

statutory construction that where a statute expressly pro-

vides a remedy, courts must be especially reluctant to pro-

vide additional remedies.”) (quotation marks omitted).

A prominent example is ERISA. Because Congress has

established a comprehensive remedial scheme for plaintiffs

to enforce their rights under an employee-benefits plan, the

Court has refused to infer additional extracontractual dam-

ages remedies. See Mass. Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Russell, 473 U.S.

134, 146 (1985) (“The presumption that a remedy was delib-

erately omitted from a statute is strongest when Congress

has enacted a comprehensive legislative scheme including

an integrated system of procedures for enforcement.”)

(quotation marks omitted). And where two environmental-

protection statutes provide private rights of action for in-

junctive relief but require plaintiffs to notify defendants 60

days before suing, the Court has refused to infer a damages

remedy or allow plaintiffs to obtain an injunction without

the requisite notice. See Nat’l Sea Clammers Ass’n, 453 U.S. at

15 (“In the absence of strong indicia of a contrary congres-

sional intent, we are compelled to conclude that Congress

provided precisely the remedies it considered appropri-

ate.”).

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 31

These decisions collided with Porter and Mitchell in

Meghrig v. KFC Western, Inc., 516 U.S. 479 (1996). Because

Brown’s challenge centers on Meghrig, it warrants close

review. There the Court addressed the Resource Conserva-

tion and Recovery Act of 1976 (“RCRA”), which permits

private parties to sue handlers of “solid or hazardous waste

which may present an imminent and substantial endanger-

ment to health or the environment.” 42 U.S.C.

§ 6972(a)(1)(B). The statute authorizes district courts “to

restrain” any person who contributes to handling the waste,

“to order such person to take such other action as may be

necessary, or both.” § 6972(a). The question in Meghrig was

whether § 6972(a) also allowed plaintiffs to recover waste-

cleanup costs as restitution.

The Supreme Court refused to find an implied restitu-

tionary remedy. “Under a plain reading of this remedial

scheme,” the Court explained, plaintiffs could receive “a

mandatory injunction, i.e., one that orders a responsible

party to ‘take action’ by attending to the cleanup and proper

disposal of toxic waste, or a prohibitory injunction, i.e., one

that ‘restrains’ a responsible party from further violating

[the] RCRA.” Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 484. But neither of these

forward-facing remedies “contemplates the award of past

cleanup costs, whether these are denominated ‘damages’ or

‘equitable restitution.’” Id.

The Court reinforced its holding by comparing the RCRA

to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensa-

tion, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”), 42 U.S.C.

§§ 9601 et seq., which addresses similar toxic-waste issues.

Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 485. Unlike the RCRA, CERCLA express-

ly authorizes monetary relief. 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a)(4). “Con-

32 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

gress thus demonstrated in CERCLA that it knew how to

provide for the recovery of cleanup costs[] and that the

language used to define the remedies under [the] RCRA

does not provide that remedy.” Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 485.

The Court also pointed to the statute’s threshold re-

quirement that a party can sue only when the waste “may

present an imminent and substantial endangerment to

health or the environment.” § 6972(a)(1)(B). “The meaning of

this timing restriction [was] plain” to the Court:

“[S]ection 6972(a) was designed to provide a remedy that

ameliorates present or obviates the risk of future ‘imminent’

harms, not a remedy that compensates for past cleanup

efforts.” Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 485–86.

Finally, the Court looked to “[o]ther aspects of [the]

RCRA’s enforcement scheme.” Id. at 486. Unlike CERCLA,

the RCRA’s citizen-suit provision lacks a statute of limita-

tions or a requirement that any recovered costs must be

reasonable. The Court reasoned that “[i]f Congress had

intended § 6972(a) to function as a cost-recovery mechanism,

the absence of these provisions would be striking.” Id. The

RCRA also halts citizen suits when the EPA or a state pur-

sues an enforcement action, and it requires plaintiffs to give

90-days’ notice to potential defendants before suing. See id.

These two requirements made § 6972(a) a “wholly irrational

mechanism” for remedying past harms. Id.

The Court then acknowledged the “line of cases holding

that district courts retain inherent authority to award any

equitable remedy that is not expressly taken away from

them by Congress.” Id. at 487 (citing Porter, 328 U.S. 395). But

these cases couldn’t support an implied restitution remedy.

As the Court put it:

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 33

[T]he limited remedies described in § 6972(a),

along with the stark differences between the

language of that section and the cost-recovery

provisions of CERCLA, amply demonstrate

that Congress did not intend for a private citi-

zen to be able to undertake a cleanup and then

proceed to recover its costs under [the]

RCRA. … [W]here Congress has provided

elaborate enforcement provisions for remedy-

ing the violation of a federal statute, as Con-

gress has done with [the] RCRA and CERCLA,

it cannot be assumed that Congress intended to

authorize by implication additional judicial

remedies for private citizens suing under the

statute. It is an elemental canon of statutory

construction that where a statute expressly

provides a particular remedy or remedies, a

court must be chary of reading others into it.

Id. at 487–88 (quotation marks omitted). Notwithstanding

Porter, the Court held that § 6972(a) does not “contemplate

the award of past cleanup costs.” Id. at 488.

Since Meghrig, the Court has adhered to this more limited

understanding of judicially implied remedies. See, e.g., Great-

West, 534 U.S. at 209 (“We have therefore been especially

reluctant to tamper with the enforcement scheme embodied

in [ERISA] by extending remedies not specifically author-

ized by its text.”) (quotation marks and alteration omitted);

Miller v. French, 530 U.S. 327, 340 (2000) (concluding that the

plain meaning of a provision expressed the congressional

intent to displace equitable authority); see also Armstrong v.

Exceptional Child Ctr., Inc., 135 S. Ct. 1378, 1385 (2015) (hold-

34 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

ing that the Medicaid Act’s provision of a specific remedy

and the judicially unadministrable nature of the relevant

statutory provision “preclude[d] the availability of equitable

relief” in section 30(A) of the statute); Gebser, 524 U.S. at 284

(holding that courts cannot enlarge the “scope of available

remedies” under an implied right of action “in a manner at

odds with the statutory structure and purpose”). Rather than

presuming that Congress authorizes the judiciary to sup-

plement express statutory remedies, the Court now recog-

nizes that “the express provision of one method of enforcing

a substantive rule suggests that Congress intended to pre-

clude others.” Armstrong, 135 S. Ct. at 1385.

4. Revisiting Amy Travel

As this perhaps drawn-out discussion shows, an explora-

tion of statutory purpose is no longer the Supreme Court’s

polestar in cases raising interpretive questions about the

scope of statutory remedies, and that shift has unsettled

Porter’s and Mitchell’s instruction to “provide complete relief

in light of the statutory purposes.” Mitchell, 361 U.S. at 292;

see also Singer, 668 F.2d at 1113 (grounding its reading of

section 13(b) on this premise). See generally Manning, supra,

at 23 (“[W]here ‘the statutory language is clear,’ the Court

has disclaimed the need even ‘to reach arguments based on

statutory purpose[] [or] legislative history.’” (quoting Boyle v.

United States, 556 U.S. 938, 950 (2009))); WILLIAM N. ESKRIDGE

JR., INTERPRETING LAW: A PRIMER ON HOW TO READ STATUTES

AND THE CONSTITUTION 81 (2016) (“We are all textualists.

That means that a judge must relate all sources of and

arguments about statutory interpretation to a text the legisla-

ture has enacted.”). Indeed, the Court has “abandoned” its

prior understanding that judges must “be alert to provide

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 35

such remedies as are necessary to make effective the con-

gressional purpose expressed by a statute.” Alexander v.

Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275, 287 (2001) (quotation marks omitted);

accord Ziglar v. Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. 1843, 1855 (2017). It is now

well settled that Congress, not the judiciary, controls the

scope of remedial relief when a statute provides a cause of

action. See Armstrong, 135 S. Ct. at 1385 (“Courts of equity

can no more disregard statutory and constitutional require-

ments and provisions than can courts of law.”) (quotation

marks omitted); Thomas W. Merrill, The Disposing Power of

the Legislature, 110 COLUM. L. REV. 452, 465–66 (2010).

Whatever strength Porter and Mitchell retain, Meghrig

clarifies that they cannot be used as Amy Travel saw them—a

license to categorically recognize all ancillary forms of

equitable relief without a close analysis of statutory text and

structure. To be sure, the Court still presumes that courts

retain their “traditional equitable authority.” Miller, 530 U.S.

at 340. But even under Porter and Mitchell, this authority

comes with an important qualifier: “unless otherwise pro-

vided by statute.” Porter, 328 U.S. at 398; Mitchell, 361 U.S. at

291. Unsurprisingly, every appellate court to consider the

relationship between Meghrig, Porter, and Mitchell recognizes

that Meghrig reinforced and clarified this qualifier.

Some circuits have concluded that a statute displaces eq-

uitable authority when it specifies a particular remedy. See

Owner-Operator Indep. Drivers Ass’n, Inc. v. Swift Transp. Co.,

632 F.3d 1111, 1121 (9th Cir. 2011) (finding that a statutory

provision allowing a person to seek “injunctive relief” acted

“to the exclusion of other equitable remedies”); Landstar Sys.,

622 F.3d at 1324 (noting that the statute at issue authorized

only injunctions and concluding that if it “allowed for

36 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

restitution or disgorgement, it would have so stated”).

Others more narrowly construe Meghrig as a command that

“courts must consider a statute’s remedial scheme” when

determining whether a statute displaces equitable authority.

See United States v. Lane Labs-USA Inc., 427 F.3d 219, 235 (3d

Cir. 2005); see also United States v. Rx Depot, Inc., 438 F.3d

1052, 1057 (10th Cir. 2006) (reading Meghrig as showing that

“a statute’s particular characteristics” can displace equitable

authority).

The D.C. Circuit thoroughly examined the effect of

Meghrig in United States v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., 396 F.3d

1190 (D.C. Cir. 2005). Harmonizing Meghrig and Porter, it

held that a statute’s “comprehensive and reticulated scheme,

along with the plain meaning of the words themselves,

serves to raise a necessary and inescapable inference, suffi-

cient under Porter, that Congress intended to limit relief.” Id.

at 1200 (quotation marks and citation omitted).

We don’t need to plant ourselves firmly along this doctri-

nal spectrum to decide this case. It’s inescapable that Meghrig

not only displaced Amy Travel’s categorical approach to

judicially implied remedies but also its interpretation of

section 13(b). Every one of Meghrig’s reasons for refusing to

find restitutionary authority in the RCRA applies with equal

force to section 13(b).

Like the RCRA, section 13(b)’s plain text doesn’t contem-

plate an award of restitution. See Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 484. It

authorizes only temporary restraining orders and injunc-

tions. And like the relationship between the RCRA and

CERCLA, the relationship between section 13(b), § 45(l), and

§ 57b(b) “is telling.” Id. at 485. Both § 45(l) and § 57b(b)

expressly authorize additional equitable remedies. § 45(l)

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 37

(“mandatory injunctions and such other and further equita-

ble relief as [courts] deem appropriate”); § 57b(b) (“such

relief as the court finds necessary … , [including] the refund

of money or return of property”). Section 13(b) lacks compa-

rable language.

Meghrig also instructs us to interpret remedial language

with reference to “the harm at which it is directed.” 516 U.S.

at 485. While the FTCA’s express restitution provisions

authorize the Commission to sue for past conduct, to pro-

ceed under section 13(b), the Commission must reasonably

believe that a person “is violating” or “about to violate” the

law. § 53(b)(1); cf. § 45(b) (empowering the Commission to

bring a cease-and-desist action when it reasonably believes

someone “has been or is” violating the act). As with the

RCRA, “[t]he meaning of this timing restriction is plain.”

Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 485. Section 13(b) “was designed to

provide a remedy that ameliorates present or obviates the

risk of future ‘imminent’ harms, not a remedy that compen-

sates” for past violations. Id. at 486.

Further, as we’ve explained, section 13(b) is procedurally

incompatible with restitution. For example, before invoking

section 13(b), the Commission must reasonably believe that

stopping an ongoing or imminent violation is in the public

interest. § 53(b)(2). And the statute dissolves a preliminary

injunction if the Commission doesn’t begin an administrative

proceeding before a court-set deadline. § 53(b). But the

Commission would have no need for an administrative

proceeding if it can get complete restitutionary relief

through section 13(b)’s permanent-injunction provision. In

short, section 13(b)’s prerequisites, like those in the RCRA,

38 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

make it a “wholly irrational mechanism” for remedying past

harms. Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 486.

Relatedly, unlike § 57b(b), section 13(b) has no statute of

limitations. The absence of a limitations period in the RCRA

was “striking” to the Meghrig Court and provided strong

evidence that the RCRA’s injunction provision did not

implicitly authorize restitution. Id. The same is true here.

Section 13(b) also lacks a central feature of the FTCA pro-

visions that expressly permit monetary relief: a notice re-

quirement. When the Commission brings an administrative

cease-and-desist action, it can secure restitution only by

proving that the violation occurred after its order became

final or that “a reasonable man” would have known that the

conduct was fraudulent. §§ 45(l); 57b(a)(2). And notice is also

baked into the Commission’s power to promulgate and

enforce rules. The Commission must follow detailed proce-

dures before promulgating a final rule. See id. § 57a(b)(1)

(requiring publication of notice and an informal hearing for

rulemaking). Moreover, final rules must “define with speci-

ficity” the prohibited acts. § 57a(a)(1)(B).

The Supreme Court has held that similar provisions are

crucial to determining the remedial scope of implied rights

of action, a closely related context: “It would be unsound …

for a statute’s express system of enforcement to require notice

to the recipient and an opportunity to come into voluntary

compliance while a judicially implied system of enforcement

permits substantial liability without regard to the recipient’s

knowledge or its corrective actions upon receiving notice.”

Gebser, 524 U.S. at 289. We face the same unsound result

here: Reading an implied restitution remedy into section

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 39

13(b) allows the Commission to circumvent the FTCA’s

detailed notice requirements.

Finally, we note that the difference in plaintiffs—private

citizens in Meghrig and a federal agency here—isn’t material.

To be sure, when “the public interest is involved in a pro-

ceeding,” a court’s “equitable powers assume an even

broader and more flexible character than when only a pri-

vate controversy is at stake.” Porter, 328 U.S. at 398; accord

Kansas v. Nebraska, 135 S. Ct. 1042, 1053 (2015). But the public

interest doesn’t turn on the identity of the parties involved.

Virginian Railway Co. v. System Federation No. 40, 300 U.S.

515, 552 (1937), the authority Porter cited to invoke the

“public interest,” is instructive on this point. Even though

the suit was between a railroad company and a union, the

Court determined that “[m]ore [was] involved than the

settlement of a private controversy.” Id. “The peaceable

settlement of labor controversies … is a matter of public

concern.” Id.; see also id. (“The fact that Congress has indicat-

ed its purpose to make negotiation obligatory is in itself a

declaration of public interest and policy … .”). Presaging

Porter, the Court observed that “[c]ourts of equity may, and

frequently do, go much farther both to give and withhold

relief in furtherance of the public interest than they are

accustomed to go when only private interests are involved.”

Id.; cf. Gen. Tel. Co. of the Nw., Inc. v. EEOC, 446 U.S. 318, 326

& n.8 (1980) (“When the EEOC acts, albeit at the behest of

and for the benefit of specific individuals, it acts also to

vindicate the public interest in preventing employment

discrimination.” (citing Porter, 328 U.S. at 397–98)).

Under Virginian Railway Co., both Meghrig and this case

implicate the public interest. Both involve enforcing federal

40 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

statutory obligations, and both involve matters of “public

concern”—environmental cleanup and consumer protection.

Even so, Meghrig did not find an implied right to restitution

in the RCRA. So the fact that the government is the plaintiff

here does not affect the analysis. Consider United States v.

Apex Oil Co., in which we examined Meghrig’s impact on

42 U.S.C. § 6973(a), the RCRA’s government-suit provision.

579 F.3d 734 (7th Cir. 2009). We did not draw a distinction

between the RCRA’s government and citizen-suit provisions.

Observing that the provisions use “identical language,” we

concluded that the RCRA “entitles the government only to

require the defendant to clean up the contaminated site at

the defendant’s expense.” Id. at 737. We then announced that

our “[e]arlier cases, … which allowed an award of clean-up

costs on the basis of general equitable principles set forth in

such cases as Mitchell v. Robert De Mario Jewelry, Inc., and

Porter v. Warner Holding Co., are dead after Meghrig.” Id.

(citations omitted).

Although section 13(b) doesn’t use identical language as

the RCRA’s citizen-suit provision, Meghrig remains material-

ly indistinguishable. So we must pay close attention to its

bottom line: “[W]here Congress has provided elaborate

enforcement provisions for remedying the violation of a

federal statute, … it cannot be assumed that Congress in-

tended to authorize by implication additional judicial reme-

dies … .” Meghrig, 516 U.S. at 487–88 (emphasis added)

(quotation marks omitted); see also Gebser, 524 U.S. at 290

(“Where a statute’s express enforcement scheme hinges its

most severe sanction on notice and unsuccessful efforts to

obtain compliance, we cannot attribute to Congress the

intention to have implied an enforcement scheme that allows

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 41

imposition of greater liability without comparable condi-

tions.”) (emphasis added).

Our limited analysis in Amy Travel doesn’t offer a way to

distinguish Meghrig. It instead requires us to ignore section

13(b)’s text and disregard the FTCA’s “elaborate enforcement

provisions.” In light of the Court’s commands in Meghrig,

our holding in Amy Travel is no longer viable. Conversely,

reading section 13(b) as authorizing only injunctive relief—

that is, reading it to mean what it plainly says—harmonizes

Meghrig with Porter and Mitchell, which also called for a

statute-specific and remedy-specific inquiry before authoriz-

ing an implied form of relief. See, e.g., Porter, 328 U.S. at 403

(holding that a separate cause of action for damages was

enough to preclude courts from inferring that remedy

elsewhere).

We recognize that this conclusion departs from the con-

sensus view of our sister circuits. But when deciding wheth-

er we should overturn precedent, “[w]e are not merely to

count noses. The parties are entitled to our independent

judgment.” United States v. Hill, 48 F.3d 228, 232 (7th Cir.

1995). And we must break from our colleagues. As noted,

most circuits adopted their position by uncritically accepting

our holding in Amy Travel, which expanded on Elders Grain,

which expanded on Singer, which expanded on Porter and

Mitchell. No circuit has examined whether reading a restitu-

tion remedy into section 13(b) comports with the FTCA’s text

and structure. Nor has anyone determined whether § 45

forecloses this remedy. And although some have briefly

discussed § 57b, they have done so only to find refuge in the

saving clause in § 57b(e). Perhaps most importantly, no

42 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

circuit has ever considered the effect of Meghrig in a section

13(b) case.

We are well aware that we need a compelling reason to

overturn circuit precedent. “However, important as stare

decisis is, it is equally important for us to respect the statutes

that Congress has passed and to correct any problems we see

in our prior interpretations of those statutes.” Ahng v. All-

steel, 96 F.3d 1033, 1037 (7th Cir. 1996); see also S. Ill. Power

Coop. v. EPA, 863 F.3d 666, 673 (7th Cir. 2017) (noting that

statutory stare decisis “is not without limits”). Even in the

realm of statutory interpretation, a Supreme Court decision

“on an analogous issue that compels us to reconsider our

position” counts as a compelling reason to overturn prece-

dent. Glaser, 570 F.3d at 915. We cannot favor our own

decisions over those of the Supreme Court.

Stare decisis alone cannot overcome Amy Travel’s clear

incompatibilities with the FTCA’s text and structure,

Meghrig, and the Supreme Court’s broader refinement of its

implied remedies jurisprudence. We therefore hold that

section 13(b)’s permanent-injunction provision does not

authorize monetary relief.4

4 Because we hold that section 13(b) doesn’t authorize monetary relief,

we have no need to consider Brown’s alternative arguments that the

Commission can’t pursue penalties or legal—as distinct from equitable—

restitution under section 13(b). See FTC v. AMG Capital Mgmt., LLC,

910 F.3d 417, 429 (9th Cir. 2018) (O’Scannlain, J., concurring) (discussing

these arguments). We also don’t need to consider the district court’s

asset-freeze determinations.

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 43

III. Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, we VACATE the restitution

award. In all other respects, we AFFIRM the judgment.

44 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

WOOD, Chief Judge, with whom ROVNER and HAMILTON,

Circuit Judges, join, dissenting from the denial of rehearing en

banc. For decades, this court has successfully used a local rule,

Circuit Rule 40(e), for two important purposes: to highlight a

decision to create a conflict in the circuits, and to clean up ear-

lier decisions whose soundness has been undermined by later

legislation, Supreme Court activity, or a consensus among our

sister circuits. Yet we have taken care not to use Rule 40(e) in

a way that defeats our profound commitment to oral argu-

ment—a commitment that sets us apart from most of the other

circuits, and one that consistently improves the quality of our

decisionmaking. The opportunity to ask questions of counsel,

to hear the questions of fellow judges, and to have a full de-

bate after argument regularly reveals aspects of a case that

even the most thorough reading of the briefs on one judge’s

part cannot provide.

The majority, however, has chosen to use Rule 40(e) in the

case now before us. It is a singularly inappropriate case for

that treatment: it overrules not only a long-standing decision

from this court, FTC v. Amy Travel Serv., Inc., 875 F.2d 564 (7th

Cir. 1989), but it also pays no heed to the fact that eight other

circuits agree with the Amy Travel approach. See Brief of the

Federal Trade Commission at 28 n. 12. Perhaps if a recent Su-

preme Court decision demanded that sea change, the major-

ity’s opinion would be defensible. But there is no such deci-

sion. Instead, the majority extrapolates from the line of cases

addressing whether a private party has an implied right of ac-

tion to the issue presented here: whether a government

agency, the Federal Trade Commission, which enjoys an ex-

press right of action under a statute for injunctive relief, is en-

titled to a restitutionary remedy that is ancillary to, or part of,

the injunction.

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 45

To my knowledge, no court has ever tied the hands of a

government agency in the way that the majority has done

here, and the majority cites none. It has taken this step with-

out the careful consideration that plenary en banc review

would have provided. I am reminded of the words spoken by

Gaius Julius Caesar in 49 B.C.E., as he approached the Rubi-

con river at the head of his army. He knew that the Roman

Senate forbade any armed force to enter Rome. But he decided

to flout that command, and as he marched with his troops

across the river, he is said to have proclaimed “alea iacta est”

– the die is cast. And indeed it was. Caesar’s act led to civil

war and eventually the end of the Roman Republic; he be-

came dictator for life and inaugurated the Roman Empire.

See, e.g., Meaning Behind the Phrase to Cross the Rubicon,

https://www.thoughtco.com/meaning-cross-the-rubicon-

117548. I devoutly hope that the majority here has not cast the

die in a way that will transform Rule 40(e) from an efficiency-

promoting rule for relatively routine updates to our circuit

law into something that erodes our commitment to plenary

consideration, along with oral argument, of every fully coun-

seled case. Time will tell. But the Rule is surely being misused

in this case. Perhaps that would not matter if no reasonable

person could question the correctness of the majority’s rea-

soning. Regrettably, that is not the case. From the materials

now before us, I believe that the court is making a mistake,

and it is doing so in a procedurally inappropriate way.

The central issue in the case relates to the proper interpre-

tation of section 13(b) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 53(b), which

authorizes the Commission to sue for injunctive relief. Injunc-

tions come in all shapes and sizes: some are prohibitory, some

are mandatory, some include submission to an equitable mas-

ter, some include reporting requirements, and many include

46 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

ancillary measures that are designed to ensure that the injunc-

tion is effective. At least since our decision in Amy Travel, the

Federal Trade Commission has understood that its authority

to seek an injunction from the court includes the authority to

seek a measure commanding the defendant to disgorge un-

lawfully acquired money or property. In other words, the in-

junction may include an order from the court for the disgorge-

ment type of restitution.

Obviously the restitution itself is not an “injunction,” any

more than the master is an “injunction,” or the reporting re-

quirements are an “injunction.” The injunction is the order

from the court either to do something or to refrain from doing

something. Black’s Law Dictionary lists 25 different types of

injunctions under that general heading. See entry for “injunc-

tion,” Black’s Law Dictionary at 904–05 (10th ed. 2014). The

term “injunction” itself is defined simply as “A court order

commanding or preventing an action.” Id. A “mandatory in-

junction” is one “that orders an affirmative act or mandates a

specified course of conduct.” Id. Nothing whatever in section

13(b) deletes from the list of possible affirmative acts that an

injunction may include an order requiring the enjoined party

to return ill-gotten gains, or to pay money into a court escrow

account, or otherwise to turn over property. That should be

enough by itself to show the error in the path the majority has

taken.

The majority rejects this straightforward reading of the

statute and argues to the contrary that “the textual case in the

FTCA against implying restitution in section 13(b) is over-

whelming.” But more than rhetoric is needed to establish that

point. From my standpoint, if the text is overwhelming at all,

I find it overwhelmingly to support the power of the FTC to

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 47

use any of the tools that Congress gave it, including the one it

used here, which entitles it to seek injunctive relief from a

court.

The Supreme Court supported the approach I would take

in California v. American Stores Co., 495 U.S. 271 (1990). There

the question was whether “divestiture is a form of injunctive

relief within the meaning of” section 16 of the Clayton Act, 15

U.S.C. § 26. 495 U.S. at 275. After the FTC had decided not to

challenge a merger of certain grocery stores in California, the

merger was consummated. The next day, however, the State

of California filed an action in federal court alleging that the

merger violated section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1,

and seeking “an injunction requiring American to divest itself

of all of [the acquired firm’s] assets and businesses in the State

of California.” 495 U.S. at 276. The district court had granted

a preliminary injunction along those lines, but the Ninth Cir-

cuit reversed on the ground that the injunctive relief author-

ized by the statute did not include divestiture. The Supreme

Court reversed the court of appeals, finding that “the statu-

tory language [of section 16] indicates Congress’ intention

that traditional principles of equity govern the grant of injunc-

tive relief.” Id. at 281. An order of divestiture is almost identi-

cal to an order requiring equitable restitution: both require the

wrongdoer to turn over property that was unlawfully ob-

tained. Similarly, the language of section 16 of the Clayton Act

is not materially different from the language of section 13(b)

of the FTC Act. In my view, the majority’s approach conflicts

with the most closely applicable Supreme Court decision.

This is especially troubling because the majority has not

pointed to any case in which the Supreme Court has said that

a federal agency must avoid one type of remedial authority it

48 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

holds and instead use a different type. That, effectively, is

what the majority has done here, in its discussion of the vari-

ous tools the FTC Act provides for enforcement of the prohi-

bition against unfair or deceptive trade practices. Ante at 11.

The Commission may use its “cease and desist” power in an

administrative proceeding, see FTC Act § 5(b), 15 U.S.C.

§ 45(b); it may, after providing notice to the Attorney General

under section 16 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 56, sue someone

who violates a cease-and-desist order, see FTC Act § 5(l)–(m),

15 U.S.C. § 45(l)–(m); it may promulgate rules that define un-

fair or deceptive practices, FTC Act § 18, 15 U.S.C. § 57a; or it

may (as it did here) file a suit in federal court for an injunction,

FTC Act § 13(b), 15 U.S.C. § 53(b).

The Supreme Court recognizes that agencies have broad

discretion in their choice of which of several authorized pro-

cedural tools they wish to use as they carry out their mission.

The best-known example of this practice comes from the field

of labor law. The National Labor Relations Board has both

rulemaking power, see 29 U.S.C. § 156, and adjudicatory pow-

ers, see 29 U.S.C. § 160. The Board does not, however, follow

the practice of using its rulemaking powers when it an-

nounces new rules; it prefers to proceed on a case-by-case ba-

sis through the adjudicative process. See, e.g., Mark H.

Grunewald, The NLRB’s First Rulemaking: An Exercise in Prag-

matism, 41 DUKE L.J. 273 (1991). Over the years people have

challenged this choice on the ground that the Board is evading

the detailed protections for rulemaking that Congress has

provided in the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553,

but the Supreme Court has always rejected those arguments.

See, e.g., NLRB v. Bell Aerospace Co. Div. of Textron, Inc., 416 U.S.

267 (1974), confirming the rule from NLRB v. Wyman-Gordon

Co., 394 U.S. 759 (1969), to this effect. As the Bell Aerospace

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 49

opinion put it, “[t]he views expressed in Chenery II and Wy-

man-Gordon make plain that the Board is not precluded from

announcing new principles in an adjudicative proceeding and

that the choice between rulemaking and adjudication lies in

the first instance within the Board’s discretion. Although

there may be situations where the Board’s reliance on adjudi-

cation would amount to an abuse of discretion or a violation

of the Act, nothing in the present case would justify such a

conclusion.” 416 U.S. at 294.

I can think of no principled reason why the Labor Board

should have that discretion, but the FTC should not. The ma-

jority argues to the contrary from a line of cases that is inap-

posite. It conflates decisions about which plaintiffs are author-

ized to bring a suit (the implied-right-of-action line) with the

distinct question about what remedies are available to a party

that is expressly authorized by statute to sue, as the FTC

surely is here. The cases on which the panel relies all involve

private enforcement, where the Court has warned us to en-

sure that we should not permit a facile work-around to a com-

plex enforcement system. See, e.g., Middlesex Cnty. Sewerage

Auth. v. Nat’l Sea Clammers Ass’n, 453 U.S. 1, 14 (1981). A case

involving public enforcement is quite different. If the agency

believes that Path A has certain advantages and downsides,

while Path B has different plusses and minuses, neither ap-

proach should be read out of the statute. Both are available to

the agency, and each one will serve its intended functions,

constrained by its safeguards.

The majority thinks that it would be “wholly irrational”

for Congress to write a statute that provides for restitution as

part of a 13(b) temporary restraining order, preliminary in-

junction, or permanent injunction, while also spelling out

50 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

less-streamlined options for the Commission to pursue. But

this ignores real differences among its options. Perhaps, be-

cause of the risk of dissipation of ill-gotten gains, the Com-

mission might want restitution to begin right away while the

case is pending, e.g., through payment into a court-operated

escrow account; in order to do that, it can seek a preliminary

injunction for the turn-over of funds. In another case, the

Commission might prefer to use the cease-and-desist route

and develop the factual record through its own administra-

tive processes—ensuring judicial deference to its fact-finding

down the road—rather than operate under the thumb of a

court.

Branding such a scheme as “wholly irrational” is unwar-

ranted without a more focused examination of why the Com-

mission might choose one route or another—a choice, I reiter-

ate, that we usually allow agencies to make. Cf. Bell Aerospace,

416 U.S. at 294–95 (concluding that agency has power to

choose adjudication or rulemaking as a means to announce

new principles while examining agency’s legitimate reasons

for pursuing one or the other method of proceeding). Such an

inquiry requires a deferential look at why Congress gave the

agency a menu of options. That is just what Congress did in

the FTC Act. The statute gives the Commission the ability to

move unilaterally when it uses its rulemaking or cease-and-

desist powers, and to act as a party before the court if it wants

a preliminary or permanent injunction. It is not up to us to

take away that which Congress gave.

Another inapposite line of cases on which the majority re-

lies addresses implied private rights of action—a problem we

surely do not have here. See, e.g., Alexander v. Sandoval, 532

U.S. 275 (2001). Rather than a private party, we have a

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 51

government agency, and rather than an implied right of ac-

tion, we have an express statutory provision authorizing the

agency to seek injunctive relief. That makes a difference. In-

deed, in a number of areas—antitrust, securities regulation,

RICO—the Supreme Court has begun drawing a distinction

between the breadth of a private right of action and the

greater breadth appropriate for public enforcement. Thus, in

RJR Nabisco Inc. v. European Community, 136 S. Ct. 2090 (2016),

the Court found that private parties (including for this pur-

pose the European Community, which had no special govern-

mental status under the applicable law) cannot enforce RICO

extraterritorially, but that the U.S. government stands in a dif-

ferent position. The Court made the same point in F. Hoffman-

La Roche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A., 542 U.S. 155 (2004):

In all three cases [on which the Empagran plain-

tiffs relied], however, the plaintiff was the Gov-

ernment of the United States. A Government

plaintiff, unlike a private plaintiff, must seek to

obtain the relief necessary to protect the public

from further anticompetitive conduct and to re-

dress anticompetitive harm. And a Government

plaintiff has legal authority broad enough to al-

low it to carry out this mission. 15 U.S.C. § 25 …

. Private plaintiffs, by way of contrast, are far

less likely to be able to secure broad relief.

See California v. American Stores Co., 495 U.S.

271, 295 (1990) (“Our conclusion that a district

court has the power to order divestiture in ap-

propriate cases brought [by private plaintiffs]

does not, of course, mean that such power

should be exercised in every situation in which

the Government would be entitled to such

52 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

relief... .”); 2 P. Areeda, Hovenkamp & R. Blair,

Antitrust Law ¶¶ 303d–303e, pp. 40–45 (2d ed.

2000) (distinguishing between private and gov-

ernment suits in terms of availability, public in-

terest motives, and remedial scope) … . This dif-

ference means that the Government’s ability, in

these three cases, to obtain relief helpful to those

injured abroad tells us little or nothing about

whether this Court would have awarded similar

relief at the request of private plaintiffs.

Id. at 170–71.

The panel’s effort to explain why injunctive relief cannot

include an order to disgorge money by reference to Wal-Mart

Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338 (2011), is no more successful.

Wal-Mart was a class action case, through and through. Most

of it deals with the inappropriateness of a money-damages ac-

tion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) for the

sprawling and unmanageable class that the plaintiffs had pro-

posed. But the Court also addressed the plaintiffs’ back-up

position, which was their effort to certify a class for backpay

claims under Rule 23(b)(2). Subpart (b)(2) of the rule allows a

class if “the party opposing the class has acted or refused to

act on grounds that apply generally to the class, so that final

injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief is appro-

priate respecting the class as a whole.” Note the emphasis in

this language on general grounds, and relief that works for the

class as a whole. As the Court pointed out, that unity of inter-

ests is especially critical in a (b)(2) class, because the unnamed

class members have no right to notice and the chance to opt

out of such a class, yet they would be bound by the outcome

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 53

of the lawsuit. Those concerns are miles away from what we

have in this case.

What the Court said in Wal-Mart is that claims for mone-

tary relief cannot be certified “at least where (as here) the

monetary relief is not incidental to the injunctive or declara-

tory relief.” 564 U.S. at 360. It went on to explain itself as fol-

lows:

One possible reading of [Rule 23(b)(2)] is that it

applies only to requests for such injunctive or

declaratory relief and does not authorize the

class certification of monetary claims at all. We

need not reach that broader question in this

case, because we think that, at a minimum,

claims for individualized relief (like the backpay

at issue here) do not satisfy the Rule. The key to

the (b)(2) class is “the indivisible nature of the

injunctive or declaratory remedy warranted—

the notion that the conduct is such that it can be

enjoined or declared unlawful only as to all of

the class members or as to none of them.” Na-

gareda, 84 N.Y.U.L.Rev., at 132. In other

words, Rule 23(b)(2) applies only when a single

injunction or declaratory judgment would pro-

vide relief to each member of the class. It does

not authorize class certification when each indi-

vidual class member would be entitled to a dif-

ferent injunction or declaratory judgment

against the defendant. Similarly, it does not au-

thorize class certification when each class mem-

ber would be entitled to an individualized

award of monetary damages. …

54 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

Given that structure, we think it clear that indi-

vidualized monetary claims belong in Rule

23(b)(3). The procedural protections attending

the (b)(3) class—predominance, superiority,

mandatory notice, and the right to opt out—are

missing from (b)(2) not because the Rule consid-

ers them unnecessary, but because it considers

them unnecessary to a (b)(2) class. When a class

seeks an indivisible injunction benefitting all its

members at once, there is no reason to under-

take a case-specific inquiry into whether class is-

sues predominate or whether class action is a

superior method of adjudicating the dispute.

Predominance and superiority are self-evident.

But with respect to each class member’s individ-

ualized claim for money, that is not so—which

is precisely why (b)(3) requires the judge to

make findings about predominance and superi-

ority before allowing the class.”

Id. at 360–63.

One cannot read this excerpt—lengthy in order to ensure

that the full context comes through—without seeing that the

Court was concerned solely about which type of class action

should be used where money is concerned. No such problem

is possible in the case before us. First, since there is only one

plaintiff—the Commission—we have no unnamed class

members to worry about. Second, the court in our case does

not need to worry about individualized relief. The FTC is it-

self entitled to seek relief on behalf of those injured by Credit

Bureau’s misdeeds. Cf. EEOC v. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. of

Wis. Sys., 288 F.3d 296, 300 (7th Cir. 2002) (EEOC may pursue

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 55

age-discrimination case against a state entity on behalf of in-

dividual employees, even though individual cases would be

barred by the state’s sovereign immunity).

Credit Bureau must merely turn over to the FTC a single

lump sum representing the total restitution due. This is the

end of the court’s involvement with the equitable relief in this

case. As the district court wrote, “[j]udgment in the amount

of Five Million, Two Hundred Sixty Thousand, Six Hundred

Seventy-One and Thirty-Six Cents (“5,260,671.36”) is entered

in favor of the Commission against Defendants, jointly and

severally, as equitable monetary relief. Defendants are or-

dered to pay to the Commission [$5,260,671.36]. Such payment

must be made within 7 days of entry of this Order …” Final

Judgment and Order for Permanent Injunction and Other Eq-

uitable Relief Against Defendants Credit Bureau Center, LLC

and Michael Brown (Kennelly, J.) (June 26, 2018) (emphasis

added). It then falls to the Commission to craft a plan to return

the ill-gotten gains to each person who was harmed, where

possible, and then turn over the remaining money to the

Treasury. See FTC Office of Claims and Refunds Annual Re-

port 2017, https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/re-

ports/bureau-consumer-protection-office-claims-refunds-an-

nual-report-2017-consumer-refunds-effectedjuly/redressre-

portformatedforweb122117.pdf. There is no risk that an un-

named class member’s claim would be lost through the oper-

ation of the law of preclusion. There is no risk, as in Wal-Mart,

that the court would need to “reevaluate the roster of class

members continually,” id. at 364. Nor, in contrast to Wal-Mart,

does this case present the problem of internal conflict within

a class. Id. at 365. Instead, the restitution issue can be resolved

in “one stroke.” Id. at 350. In sum, nothing in Wal-Mart says

that an injunction to turn over wrongfully acquired property

56 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

(here, in the form of money) to a government agency is in any

way objectionable.

I next turn to the Supreme Court’s decision in Meghrig v.

KFC Western, Inc., 516 U.S. 479 (1996), on which the majority

relies so heavily. The issue in Meghrig was “whether § 7002 of

the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA),

42 U.S.C. § 6972, authorizes a private cause of action to re-

cover the prior cost of cleaning up toxic waste that does not,

at the time of suit, continue to pose an endangerment to health

or the environment.” 516 U.S. at 481. In order to answer that

question, the Court had to construe the citizen-suit provision

of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. § 6972(a). It held that two requirements of

section 6972 defeated plaintiff KFC’s suit: first, the citizen-suit

provision reaches only imminent and substantial harms, not

past problems that have been addressed; and second, the re-

medial language focuses only on the restraint of ongoing

clean-up and disposal problems, not on past clean-up costs

(“whether [those] are denominated ‘damages’ or ‘equitable

restitution’”). 516 U.S. at 484.

This was a pure question of statutory interpretation. The

relevant part of RCRA authorized a citizen suit “against any

person … who has contributed or who is contributing to the

past or present handling, storage, treatment, transportation,

or disposal of any solid or hazardous waste which may present

an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the envi-

ronment.” 42 U.S.C. § 6972(a)(1)(B) (emphasis added). The

Court gave that provision its natural reading—that is, as

something that did not include a remedy for past cleanup

costs. Id. at 485. It emphasized in that connection the im-

portance of the imminence requirement, which entirely ruled

out any form of relief, however labeled, for a fixed sum

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 57

representing past expenditures. Only in that context did the

Court reject the argument that a plaintiff “could seek equita-

ble restitution of money previously spent on cleanup efforts.”

Id. at 487. General rules about equitable powers were of no

importance for a statute that drew the temporal line at prob-

lems that are “imminent and substantial.” Id. Interestingly,

the Court declined to rule on the question “whether a private

party could seek to obtain an injunction requiring another

party to pay cleanup costs which arise after a RCRA citizen

suit has been properly commenced … .” Id. at 488. That reser-

vation proves that the Court was not ruling out equitable

turn-over of funds, period. It was simply saying that past ex-

penditures were not covered by the statute in front of it.

So even Meghrig itself, a case involving private plaintiffs,

did not purport categorically to exclude from injunctive relief

an order to make payments. It is thus all the more remarkable

that the majority interprets Meghrig to impose such a limita-

tion on the relief that a government plaintiff can seek. As the

majority acknowledges, “when ‘the public interest is involved

in a proceeding,’ a court’s ‘equitable powers assume an even

broader and more flexible character than when only a private

controversy is at stake,’” ante at 38, quoting Porter v. Warner

Holding Co., 328 U.S. 395, 398 (1946). But it then goes on to

postulate that “the public interest doesn’t turn on the identity

of the parties involved.” Id. That is not accurate. One factor

informing the public interest is whether it is the government

that is seeking relief. See, e.g., Winter v. Nat. Res. Defense Coun-

cil, Inc., 555 U.S. 7 (2008) (attaching great weight to Navy’s in-

terest in realistic training of sailors). The FTC’s assessment of

the public interest here informs the scope of any injunctive re-

lief it is seeking.

58 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

The presence of the government as a litigant is especially

important to the public-interest component of the analysis

when the government seeks remedies that (1) lie uniquely

within its toolbox and (2) are aimed squarely at undoing pub-

lic harms and preventing future ones through deterrence. As

the Second Circuit has noted in a section 13(b) case of its own

(discussed in further detail below), this is precisely what the

Commission seeks here by way of an injunction ordering eq-

uitable restitution in the form of disgorgement. “[D]isgorge-

ment is a distinctly public-regarding remedy, available only

to government entities seeking to enforce explicit statutory

provisions.” FTC v. Bronson Partners, LLC, 654 F.3d 359, 372

(2d Cir. 2011) (affirming an injunction ordering “restitution”

under 13(b) authority and discussing the theory underlying

what the court understood to be equitable disgorgement).

The Supreme Court has explicitly recognized this feature

of disgorgement in the SEC context. “SEC disgorgement is im-

posed by the courts as a consequence for violating what we

described in Meeker as public laws. The violation for which

the remedy is sought is committed against the United States

rather than an aggrieved individual—this is why, for exam-

ple, a securities-enforcement action may proceed even if vic-

tims do not support or are not parties to the prosecution.”

Kokesh v. SEC, 137 S. Ct. 1635 (2017). As the Court acknowl-

edged in Kokesh, this understanding of disgorgement perme-

ates the case law of our sister circuits as well. See SEC v. Teo,

746 F.3d 90, 102 (3d Cir. 2014) (“[T]he SEC pursues [disgorge-

ment] independent of the claims of individual investors in or-

der to promot[e] economic and social policies”) (cleaned up);

SEC v. Rind, 991 F.2d 1486, 1491 (9th Cir. 1993) (“[D]isgorge-

ment actions further the Commission’s public policy mission

of protecting investors and safeguarding the integrity of the

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 59

markets”). Here, the FTC is seeking to vindicate the public in-

terest through a public-facing remedy aimed at an ongoing

harm. That was not the case in Meghrig, which was certainly

about “environmental cleanup” but which rejected a back-

ward-looking remedy that in economic substance sought

damages.

The majority also asserts that cases decided since Meghrig

demonstrate that it represented a sweeping rejection of im-

plied remedies. Ante at 33. It cites Great-West Life & Annuity

Ins. Co. v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204 (2002); Miller v. French, 530

U.S. 327 (2000); Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Ctr., Inc., 135 S.

Ct. 1378 (2015), and Gebser v. Lago Vista Ind. Schl. Dist., 524 U.S.

274 (1998), for this proposition. None of those cases, however,

addresses the situation before us: a governmental plaintiff

with an express right of action, and an agency that seeks an

injunction (also expressly authorized) ordering a wrongdoer

to disgorge ill-gotten gains.

Great-West was brought by a private party under the Em-

ployment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to compel

a plan beneficiary to pay over money recovered from a third-

party tortfeasor to the plan. The Supreme Court held that the

petitioners essentially wanted “to impose personal liability on

respondents for a contractual obligation to pay money—relief

that was not typically available in equity.” Id. at 210. That took

their request beyond the bounds of equitable relief; as the

Court put it, “an injunction to compel the payment of money

past due under a contract was not typically available in eq-

uity.” Id. There is not a hint of contract law in our case, and so

Great-West is not applicable. Miller is equally beside the point.

There, Congress had acted explicitly to limit the equitable

power of the district courts to enjoin the automatic stay

60 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

provided by the Prison Litigation Reform Act. 530 U.S. at 331.

The Supreme Court held that the statute did not permit dis-

trict courts to override that provision with a “stay of the stay,”

which is what the private litigants sought. No such effort to

undo a congressional prohibition exists in our case. Armstrong

and Gebser are even further afield. Armstrong holds only that

neither the Supremacy Clause (Art. VI, cl. 2 of the Constitu-

tion) nor the Medicaid Act confers a private right of action on

providers of rehabilitation services, whether for injunctive re-

lief or anything else. Gebser actually does recognize a limited

implied private right of action for sexual harassment of

schoolchildren. In short, nothing in Meghrig, and nothing in

the cases following Meghrig, comes close to holding that a

government agency acting pursuant to express authority to

seek injunctive relief cannot ask for a mandatory injunction

requiring turn-over of money.

Given our decision to cast off a precedent that has guided

both this court and other courts of appeals for decades, I add

a word about our now-abandoned decision in Amy Travel,

which held that the FTC is authorized to obtain restitution as

part of the injunctive relief covered by section 13(b). I already

have explained why I believe that ruling to be correct. My

comments here address the majority’s effort to trivialize the

fact that eight of our sister circuits agree with Amy Travel’s

holding. They brush off this consensus with the accusation

that these courts have done so unthinkingly.

I find that charge quite unwarranted. In the interest of

space, I focus on only one of those other cases: the Second Cir-

cuit’s opinion in Bronson, 654 F.3d 359 (Lynch, J.). There, the

FTC brought suit for an injunction against Bronson for engag-

ing in deceptive advertising of weight-loss products. The

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 61

district court “entered a permanent injunction against Bron-

son and ordered it to pay $1,942,325 in monetary equitable re-

lief plus statutory interest.” Id. at 362. Bronson argued, just as

Brown and Credit Bureau have here, that section 13(b) did not

permit a court to order monetary relief. The Second Circuit

rejected that argument, along with the narrower point that

traceability of the ill-gotten gains was essential. But it did so

only after a thorough and thoughtful consideration of Bron-

son’s argument.

After first noting that section 13(b) of the FTC Act permits

the FTC to seek permanent injunctive relief, the Second Cir-

cuit noted that “courts have consistently held that ‘the un-

qualified grant of statutory authority to issue an injunction

under [S]ection 13(b) carries with it the full range of equitable

remedies, including the power to grant consumer redress and

compel disgorgement of profits.’” 654 F.3d at 365. The Second

Circuit explicitly joined that consensus, holding that section

13(b) of the FTC Act permits courts to grant ancillary equita-

ble relief, including equitable monetary relief. Id.

The court then turned to the argument that any kind of

monetary award would be “an impermissible legal, rather

than equitable, award, because the [district] court failed to

identify particular funds in the defendants’ hands that were

specifically traceable to the fraudulently marketed products.”

Id. at 369. After a lengthy and scholarly discussion of the law

of restitution, the Second Circuit concluded that the disgorge-

ment ordered in the case before it was a permissible adjunct

to the injunctive relief authorized by section 13(b). This was

so because “the district court’s award satisfies the require-

ments of equitable disgorgement … .” Id. at 370.

62 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

The court went on to confirm that “disgorgement is a well-

established remedy in the Second Circuit,” often used in ac-

tions under section 21(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of

1934. That statute, which “authorizes an action to enjoin vio-

lations of the securities laws, also permits the district court to

award disgorgement as an equitable adjunct to its injunctive

decree.” Id. at 372. Importantly, “disgorgement—at least

when sought by public agencies such as the SEC and the

FTC—has several features that make it distinct from the rem-

edies available to private litigants seeking to press common

law claims.” Id. That is because “disgorgement is a distinctly

public-regarding remedy, available only to government enti-

ties seeking to enforce explicit statutory provisions.” Id. That

feature also plays a significant role in the case before us.

The Second Circuit also took note of another distinction

that I, too have stressed: “public entities [are not] required to

make any particular effort to compensate the victims that they

can identify,” because the victim is the government, not the

individual persons. Id. at 373. It added, “While agencies may,

as a matter of grace, attempt to return as much of the dis-

gorgement proceeds as possible, the remedy is not, strictly

speaking, restitutionary at all, in that the award runs in favor

of the Treasury, not of the victims.” Id. In my view, this point

underscores why the restitutionary payment bears no resem-

blance to individual money damages to the injured parties.

Whatever else one might want to say about the Second Cir-

cuit’s analysis in Bronson, it is surely impossible to character-

ize it as a drive-by ruling or one that was not carefully consid-

ered and thoroughly explained. I find it quite persuasive. It

demonstrates to me why both we and our sister circuits up

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 63

until this time have understood that the injunctions author-

ized by section 13(b) can include a restitutionary component.

Finally, I want to emphasize that even if we were interpret-

ing this statute on a blank slate, rather than upending decades

of precedent and creating a split with eight other circuits, the

majority’s reading of section 13(b) is still not persuasive. The

majority grounds its argument in the contrast between the in-

junctive relief explicitly authorized in section 13(b) and the

remedies available to the agency if it opts to use its cease-and-

desist powers under section 5 of the FTC Act or to punish vi-

olators of promulgated rules under section 19. (Section 5 of

the Act is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45, while section 19 is codified

at 15 U.S.C. § 57b. The majority uses the U.S. Code cites for

sections other than 13(b); my analysis below uses the same

scheme for ease of cross-reference with the majority’s opin-

ion.)

As the majority sees things, we must read 13(b)’s grant of

injunctive authority extremely narrowly given that section

57b(b) specifically mentions “the refund of money or return

of property” as a form of relief the court can order, and 45(l)

allows courts to “grant mandatory injunctions and such other

and further equitable relief as they deem appropriate.” I do

not quibble with the overarching principle that “it is generally

presumed that Congress acts intentionally and purposely in

the disparate inclusion or exclusion [of words in different sec-

tions of the same Act].” Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 430 (2009)

(quotation marks omitted). But a close look at the two con-

trasting sections reveals that this is not a straightforward case

of a list comprised of “A, B, and C” and another consisting of

only “A and B.”

64 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

I begin with section 57b(b), which lays out remedies for

violations of final rules. Our first clue that this subsection

should not be read to limit the scope of injunctive relief in a

13(b) action is that courts are directed in 57b(b) to “grant such

relief as the court finds necessary to redress injury to consum-

ers or other persons, partnerships, and corporations…” (em-

phasis added). These are largely backward-facing remedies.

As discussed above, courts have long recognized that dis-

gorgement of ill-gotten gains—the sort of equitable restitution

at issue here—is a forward-looking remedy aimed at deter-

rence. Making consumers whole is a possible, but not inevita-

ble, consequence of a disgorgement order. “[T]he primary

purpose of disgorgement orders is to deter violations of the []

laws by depriving violators of their ill-gotten gains.” Bronson,

654 F.3d at 737, quoting SEC v. Fishbach Corp., 133 F.3d 170,

175 (2d Cir. 1997). (Notably, section 57b(b) actually prohibits

courts from imposing “any exemplary or punitive damages.”)

Second, while section 57b(b) lists some more forward-looking

remedies, such as “public notification respecting the rule vio-

lation or the unfair or deceptive act or practice,” this language

only highlights how strained it is to read section 57b(b) as a

limitation on courts’ 13(b) injunctive authority. Would a court

issuing a 13(b) injunction be powerless to order a violator to

post “public notification respecting the … unfair or deceptive

act or practice,” simply because this remedy is listed in an-

other subsection? Surely not.

It is also important to recall that the list in 57b(b) is merely

illustrative: courts are authorized to order relief that “may in-

clude, but shall not be limited to,” the listed remedies. This

subsection is thus a poor candidate (at best) for the expressio

unius canon. (Compare “Visitors may bring pets into the park

on weekdays” with “Animals that visitors are permitted to

Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310 65

bring into the park on weekends may include, but shall not be

limited to, dogs, cats, snakes, monkeys, and alligators.” Could

weekday visitors not bring dogs?) The savings clause in the

same section is the coup de grâce for the majority’s reasoning.

It cautions that “Remedies provided in this section are in addi-

tion to, and not in lieu of, any other remedy or right of action

provided by State or Federal law. Nothing in this section shall be

construed to affect any authority of the Commission under any other

provision of law.” Id. § 57b(e) (emphasis added). That says it all:

the non-exhaustive examples of relief Congress chose to men-

tion in one section do not limit what a court may or may not

include pursuant to another section—for instance, a 13(b) in-

junction.

The list of remedies available to the FTC in a cease-and-

desist action, spelled out in section 45(l), also provides little

help for the majority. True, this section authorizes the FTC to

“grant mandatory injunctions and such other and further eq-

uitable relief as they deem appropriate …” But so what? Some

forms of equitable relief make sense as standalone remedies,

injunction or no injunction. In contrast, equitable remedies are

available under 13(b) only if (1) a plaintiff satisfies the de-

manding burden of demonstrating why an injunction should

issue, see eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388 (2006);

and (2) the court is able to justify the relief it is ordering as a

proper adjunct to the injunctive decree. By allowing courts to

issue “such other and further equitable relief,” section 45(l)

clarifies that courts have a wide range of equitable relief avail-

able to them, no matter whether plaintiffs managed to obtain

an injunction or, if an injunction has issued, whether the rem-

edies are appropriate means of enforcing the decree. Under

45(l), a court could order an accounting or some sort of

66 Nos. 18-2847 & 18-3310

specific performance whether or not the requirements for a

mandatory injunction had been satisfied.

There are further weaknesses in the majority’s reading of

the statute, but I have said enough to show that its approach

is far from the most straightforward even if we did not have

decades of precedent, eight other circuits, and American Stores

on the other side. The FTC Act spells out a finely crafted sys-

tem of enforcement powers and remedies. The majority’s in-

terpretation upends what the agency and Congress have un-

derstood to be the status quo for thirty years, and in so doing

grants a needless measure of impunity to brazen scammers

like the defendant in this case.

I end where I began: This is an important case, and it de-

serves plenary consideration, not the truncated process that

Rule 40(e) provides for appropriate cases. The court’s refusal

to rehear this case en banc has, I fear, led us into error. I there-

fore dissent from the decision not to give this case plenary en

banc consideration.