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FTC Prevails in Lawsuit over False Energy Savings Claims

  • A federal District Court awarded the FTC summary judgment in an enforcement action against SPM Thermo-Shield, Inc. and its officers involving allegations that the company violated the FTC Act when it made deceptive claims about the insulating and energy-saving capabilities of its architectural wall-coating products.
  • According to the complaint, Thermo-Shield falsely claimed that its products had optimal “R-values, ”— which is a measure of the product’s resistance to heat flow – and provide significant energy savings for consumers. The FTC alleged that Thermo-Shield knowingly advertised on its website false R-values based on studies from decades-ago, which were based on outdated science.
  • In its Opinion and Order, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted permanent injunctive relief prohibiting Thermo-Shield from misrepresenting the R-value of any architectural coating product, making unsubstantiated comparisons of its R-value to any other product, system or insulation, or claiming that any architectural coating product provides energy savings without disclosing that these savings vary according to several factors.