What's New in the Law

In a recent opinion by a Magistrate Judge, Federal Trade Commission v. IFC Credit Corp., 2008 WL_1001154 (U.S.Dist.Ct. N.D.Ill. April 9, 2008), the court granted a NorVergence assignee's motion to dismiss one count of the FTC's complaint ' seeking to deny enforceability of the floating forum selection clause found in the leases acquired by such assignee (such holding being consistent with the Seventh Circuit's decision in Aliano Bros. as noted in the Forum Selection section below) ' but denied IFC's motions on two other counts. At this very early stage in the lawsuit, the court appears to be quite deferential to the FTC's arguments against IFC. Although IFC argued that the lessees ' small businesses and religious and other not-for-profit organizations ' were not 'consumers' under the Federal Trade Commission Act, the court (indicating that this issue was one of first impression under the FTCA) was inclined to defer to the agency's interpretation of the statute, which interpretation included such lessees as 'consumers.' The court also listed a good number of instances of alleged complicity by IFC in NorVergence's fraudulent scheme sufficient to warrant a trial.