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Disclosure to Public Officials Is Not "Public": Relator to Have Yet Another Day in Court

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.05.15

The "long and winding road" of U.S. ex rel. Wilson v. Graham County, which has twice taken it to the Supreme Court and back, will continue on remand after the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal for want of jurisdiction. Siding with five other circuits in a rebuke of the Seventh Circuit's holding in U.S. v. Bank of Farmington that disclosure to a "competent" public official authorized to act on the information was sufficient to trigger the FCA's public disclosure bar, the Fourth Circuit ruled instead that information shared within the government, even between federal, state, and local agencies, has not reached the public domain, notwithstanding its availability through a public records request.

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Client Alert | 5 min read | 08.21.26

FTC Proposes Enforcement Policy Statement on Personalized Pricing: What Businesses Need to Know

On August 19, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposed Enforcement Policy Statement on personalized pricing — the practice of companies using consumers’ personal data to set individualized prices, discounts, coupons, or other incentives. The proposed statement, which is open for public comment for 30 days following publication in the Federal Register, marks a major step up in the FTC’s focus on data-driven pricing strategies and puts businesses across industries on notice that undisclosed or inadequately disclosed personalized pricing will not be tolerated. Importantly, while the proposed statement is not a binding legal requirement and does not create new legal obligations, it serves as an enforcement warning that the FTC is prepared to use its existing enforcement authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act (Section 5) and is also a potential harbinger of rulemaking. Businesses that engage in — or are considering — personalized pricing should carefully assess their disclosure practices and data collection procedures against the standards articulated in this statement....

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