15 U.S.C. § 57b — Civil actions for violations of rules and cease and desist orders respecting unfair or deceptive acts or practices

(a) Suits by the Commission. The Commission can bring a civil lawsuit, in federal district court or a state court with proper jurisdiction, in two situations. First, if a person, partnership, or corporation violates a rule about unfair or deceptive acts or practices — other than an interpretive rule, or a rule the Commission has said isn't a section 45(a) violation when broken — the Commission can sue for the relief described in subsection (b). Second, if someone engages in an unfair or deceptive act or practice that a final Commission cease-and-desist order already covers, the Commission can also sue; if it convinces the court that a reasonable person would have known the conduct was dishonest or fraudulent, the court can grant the same subsection (b) relief. (b) Nature of relief available. The court can order whatever relief is needed to make up for harm to consumers or others caused by the rule violation or the unfair or deceptive practice. That can include canceling or rewriting contracts, refunding money, returning property, paying damages, and requiring public notice about what happened. The court can never award exemplary or punitive damages. (c) Conclusiveness of Commission findings; notice to injured persons. If a cease-and-desist order about someone's rule violation or unfair/deceptive act has already become final, and a lawsuit is later brought under this section about that same conduct, the Commission's factual findings from that earlier proceeding are treated as conclusive (already proven) — unless the order itself says its findings aren't conclusive, or the order became final only because no one appealed it in time, in which case the findings are conclusive only if evidence supports them. The court must give notice of the lawsuit in a way reasonably likely to reach the people allegedly harmed; the court can choose to do this by publication. (d) Time for bringing actions. The Commission generally cannot sue more than 3 years after the rule violation or the unfair/deceptive act happened. Exception: if a cease-and-desist order about that same conduct became final, and the proceeding that led to it started within 3 years of the conduct, the Commission can still sue any time up to one year after the order becomes final. (e) Other remedies unaffected. The remedies in this section add to, and don't replace, any other remedy available under state or federal law. Nothing here limits any other legal authority the Commission has.