Walmart Seeks OK to Exceed Page Limits in Answering FTC’s Amended Complaint

Walmart seeks leave to exceed ordinary page limits when it moves for dismissal by Aug. 11 of the FTC’s June 30 amended complaint (see 2307030001), said its motion Friday (docket 1:22-cv-03372) in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. The agency alleges Walmart continued to process fraud-induced money transfers at its stores while failing to do enough to warn consumers of the risks and help them make informed choices. Though the FTC’s “basic theory of liability” in the amended complaint remains the same as that “propounded in its original,” the commission added 63 paragraphs of new allegations, “rendering the amended complaint 26 pages longer than the original,” said Walmart’s motion. Rather than asserting two counts against Walmart as it did in its original, the FTC’s amended complaint now asserts four counts -- one claiming a violation of Section 5 of the FTC, and three claiming violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, it said. Walmart contends the FTC’s amended complaint “continues to suffer from several fatal defects that warrant dismissal,” it said. Walmart seeks permission to file briefs of the same length that the court permitted in connection with its initial motion to dismiss, it said. The FTC’s legal theories “continue to be unprecedented,” and it has now added allegations regarding a “litany” of examples of money transfers processed at various Walmart stores across the country “at various points in time,” it said. “The key factual allegations underlying each of these transactions -- including the nature of the alleged scam and Walmart’s alleged involvement -- are different and will therefore implicate distinct lines of argument,” said Walmart. Extending the ordinary page limit “will allow Walmart to address the FTC’s 26 pages of new allegations,” and explain how they don’t overcome “the multiple independent pleading deficiencies identified” in the court’s March 27 order partially dismissing the agency’s allegations, it said. Consistent with the page limits permitted by the court in connection with Walmart’s initial motion to dismiss, Walmart asks the court to increase the page limit to 40 for Walmart’s memorandum of law in support of its motion to dismiss, and increase the page limit for Walmart’s reply in support of its motion to dismiss to 20, it said. The FTC doesn’t oppose the motion, it said.