Federal Trade Commission v. Ticor Title Insurance Co.

Ticor Title Insurance Company (defendant) and other title-insurance companies charged uniform rates for title search and examination services across several states. The FTC (plaintiff) sued alleging illegal price fixing; the title companies claimed state-action immunity, arguing state policy authorized their pricing. An administrative law judge found that Connecticut, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Montana had failed to actively supervise the policies allegedly authorizing the price-fixing, making the companies ineligible for immunity in those states; the court of appeals reversed, and the FTC appealed.