FTC Loses False Advertising Case with Non-Credible Expert Witness

The FTC recently lost a false advertising case it brought in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against a company manufacturing housing wrap and insulation for claims regarding the insulation’s R-value and the defendant’s alleged failure to adhere to the correct testing requirements for measuring R-values, after its only remaining expert witness’s testimony was rejected as unreliable and not credible.

The court granted judgment on partial findings for the defendant under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(c), concluding that the FTC had cited no reliable or credible evidence in the record to demonstrate the defendant’s claims were false, which failed to meet the FTC’s burden to establish falsity.