United States v. Bayer Corp.

Case Updates

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey rejected the Government’s motion to hold Bayer Corporation in contempt.

The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief in support of Bayer Corporation in a case concerning whether Bayer violated a 2007 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission in marketing its Phillips’ Colon Health dietary supplement. The Chamber’s brief argues that the Government used unfounded threats of contempt to effectuate a sea change in the law—in this case, the well-established standards governing the dietary supplement industry. The brief argues that the novel standard under which the government is seeking to hold Bayer in contempt is not the law, and the Commission’s campaign to impose this new standard through contempt actions raises serious free speech, due process, and administrative law concerns that implicate the interests of not only the dietary supplement industry, but also of all businesses subject to regulation by the Commission.

Austin A. Evans, Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, David M. Barnes, and Merritt E. McAlister of King & Spalding LLP represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as co-counsel to the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.