LITIGATION READINESS

Transcription

1 What is Litigation Readiness? LITIGATION READINESS A strong compliance function has been a fundamental requirement for any business. But the compliance function is only the first step in being able to defend against investigations and litigation related to business operations, especially as such operations impact communications and interactions with consumers. Knowing the law and following the law is meaningless unless you can prove it. Being "Litigation Ready" means being able to quickly and efficiently prove that your company's operations comply with the law. Litigation Readiness is an operational concept that involves structuring a comprehensive compliance program that involves not only identifying and understanding the law, but systematically capturing critical information you will need to defend against legal or regulatory challenges. To company employees, Litigation Readiness is a detailed and structured how-to process for ensuring the proper creation, organization, preservation, analysis and immediate access to critical information and evidence necessary to respond to litigation or regulatory investigations. How does the Litigation Readiness system work? The Litigation Readiness consists of a five-part analysis that addresses the following critical questions: 1. What laws apply to my business? 2. What policies and procedures must be implemented to ensure that my business complies with those laws? 3. What documentation (evidence) should be created and maintained to prove that my business complies with the law? 4. How does my business train and track employees to make sure they comply with the relevant laws and company policies and procedures? 5. How do I monitor information available from outside sources about my business compliance with relevant laws and company policies and procedures? Why do I need a Litigation Readiness system? The purpose of the system is to define what documents are needed to establish the businesses compliance with the applicable laws and to maintain those critical documents in a form that can easily be delivered to legal counsel in hours or days rather than weeks or months in the event of a regulatory inquiry or litigation. This ability to quickly produce key information demonstrating and supporting the 1

2 company s compliance enhances the company s ability to defend itself, especially in the context of a regulatory investigation 1. The Law Working with compliance counsel, the first step in the review process focuses on identifying business specific laws, rules and regulations that apply to and govern the business. Good compliance analysis begins by understanding what a company does, how it does it, how it markets its products and services, to whom it markets and where it markets. All of these factors will implicate laws that govern a company's operations. Sources of "law" that govern marketing and sale of products or services include: Federal and State Statutes and Case Decisions Regulations, like the FTC or other agency who promulgate regulations, rules and guidance publications Industry self-regulatory rules Relevant Attorney General enforcement activity Consent Orders/Agreements of Voluntary Compliance (AVC) Laws that govern business operations can focus on the nature of the product or service sold, the manner in which it is delivered to consumers, what is represented by the product and services, how it is marketed, where it is marketed or to whom it is marketed. Company's often have a fundamental understanding of the laws that govern the nature of the products and services that are sold, but often these same company's miss the other laws that focus on the "how", "to whom" and "where" those products and services are marketed and sold. For example: - Specific laws apply based on where products and services are marketed. Traditional Retail and Internet Television Direct mail Telemarketing/Mobile Home-based solicitations - Specific laws apply based on how you market your product or service. Testimonials/Endorsements Free samples or free trials Collection of consumer data 2

3 Negative options Incentive gift or rebate cards - Specific laws apply based on how products and services are delivered. Retail stores Mail delivery Internet (downloaded products, ordered services) - Specific laws apply based on to whom products and services are marketed and sold. Financially challenged consumers/seniors/children B2B Direct sales Through retailers or affiliates 3

4 2. Policies and Procedures Developing policies and procedures is the first step in executing a comprehensive compliance program that leads to Litigation Readiness. Policies and Procedures not help ensure that the company complies with each of the applicable laws identified above but written policies and procedures serve as evidence of corporate intention, motivation and plan of execution. Developing comprehensive policies and procedures requires a thorough evaluation of how the business operates, focusing on the following issues: What steps are (or can be) taken to assure that the business complies with the relevant laws? How are (or can) those steps be documented? Where is that documentation maintained? Is it easily accessible in the event of a lawsuit or regulatory investigation or enforcement action? How long would it take to assemble in its present state? Can that access be improved/expedited? Like the laws that govern a business, corresponding policies and procedures are impacted by the nature of the products and services marketed and sold as well as the how, where and to whom factors. Examples include: Companies that market through , should have policies on CANSPAM compliance as well as state laws that survive preemption analysis. Companies that collect consumer data, should have polcies and procedures that focus on the collection, security, use, third-party access and outsourcing related to such consumer data. If a company markets to a particular group of clients (i.e. elderly or children), the company should have policies and procedures related to marketing to these types of groups (like COPPA and elder abuse laws). If a company engages in telemarketing, it should have policies ensuring that the company complies with the Telemarketing Sales Rule and Do Not Call procedures. These policies and procedures should include: Complaint and complaint response procedures Marketing material creation and review policies Document retention policies Training, testing and documentation procedures Policy for maintaining and updating your Litigation Readiness plan 4

5 3. Operational Evidence Creation Understanding applicable law and developing policies and procedures are only as good as the evidence a company creates, maintains and can efficiently access to prove compliance. At the heart of Litigation Readiness is the implementation of an operational structure that contemplates what evidence is needed to prove compliance, how it would be presented in response to investigations or in litigation, what format it should take, where it should be maintained and by whom. Major subjects of evidence creation could include corporate policies and procedures; marketing substantiation; employee training, testing and correction; customer interactions including contracts, communications, due diligence, exit interviews, complaint and complaint response; third-party feedback like BBB complaints, Rip-off reports, government agency interaction and analysis and correction based on such feedback. Using marketing substantiation as an example, the evidence creation function may involve the following type of analysis. Substantiation Basics: 1. What representations are expressly and impliedly made by the company?. 2. What evidence is needed to back up the representations and does the company have it? Can the company get it and how? 3. Where should the substantiation evidence be maintained? Should it be the responsibility of the marketing department, legal or a compliance officer. Should it be electronic? Should evidence organization be campaign based or claim based? Substantiation requires an on-going (day-to-day) analysis of all marketing representations on a present to future basis, and thus it is critical that the "owner" of marketing substantiation evidence have sufficient resources to run with or ahead of marketing claims. 5

6 Spreadsheet Substantiation or The Substantiation Matrix Spreadsheet substantiation or a substantiation matrix are organizational concepts for correlating each representation to the information (report, data, etc.) that substantiates it. The purpose is to identify representations being made, pairing the representation to its substantiation and allowing for ease of access to both. In application, using substantiation tracking mechanisms should bring together the separate functions of designing sales and marketing materials with those of reviewing, collecting and tracking the supporting substantiation with the respective roles remaining distinct to preserve the integrity of the compliance review process. By integrating the development, collection and substantiation of marketing and sales materials, marketers will should be able to develop a better understanding of potential risks related to marketing, to decide whether such risks are economically legitimate, to facilitate outside counsel analysis of risk and, of course, to defend against investigations and claims based on marketing representations. 6

7 4. Training and Testing Developing company policies and procedures for operating the business in compliance with relevant laws is meaningless unless employees are adequately trained and understand how to carry out their responsibilities in compliance with those policies and procedures. The company s policies and procedures should include written procedures regarding employee training, and the training process must be documented, including relevant testing of those skills taught to employees through the training. Evidence that should be created and maintained related to employee training includes: All training materials provided to your employees. All testing materials intended to confirm that the knowledge provided was learned. Proof that the training has taken place and the learning has occurred (evidence of testing, additional training and retesting if required). Perhaps the most important evidence on employee training actually involves documenting employee correction when company policies and procedures are violated. Documenting reprimands, repeated training and termination serves as evidence that a company's policies have meaning and purpose. More importantly, documenting employee correction evidences a company's defense that a specific bad act was perpetrated by a rogue employee in violation of corporate policy. 7

8 5. Verification and Feedback It is said that perception is reality. While evidence can prove that wrong, understanding how consumers, regulators and competitors perceive a company's marketing and business operations is critical information to both adjust business operations to avoid problems and to create and collect evidence to combat investigations or litigation that is foreshadowed through complaints. Generally, businesses view consumer complaints as an annoyance; but in truth consumer complaints are a gift--a gift because a consumer who is complaining to a business (rather than to a regulator) gives the business a chance to respond, and a gift because consumer complaints are an indication of how a company's operations and marketing is being perceived. If adjusting marketing or other business operations based on complaints is not warranted, then the complaints provide the business an early opportunity to gather evidence to defend whatever challenge may be initiated behind the complaints. Key to using consumer feedback is the creation of an operational system for collecting, analyzing and addressing such feedback on an individual and macro level. The focus of feedback collection and analysis includes: How are you doing as a business? Are you doing what you say you are doing? What are consumers actually hearing from your messages? Are complaints repetitive? Are complaints wide ranging? Examples of sources of feedback include: Consumer complaints, praise letters Internet feedback (Ripoffreport.com, Consumeraffairs.com, etc.) Better Business Bureau complaints o Number of and nature of complaints o Comparison to competitors in industry Exit interview data (consumers, employees, etc.) o Ask why your customers don t want to be customers anymore o Ask why your employees don't want to be employees anymore Self-conducted surveys and secret shopper studies Informal competitor challenges/competitive advertising suggesting bad practices Awards, news articles, etc. Appreciate that negative feedback from any source is a gift that affords the opportunity to correct your operations, make personnel changes, implement new policies and procedures, collect defensive evidence and take other necessary steps to respond to a problem before it develops into a bigger problem... and develop evidence on everything that is done. 8

9 Conclusion What Next? The Hardest Part Getting Started! The Next Hardest Part Keeping Current! Key Finding the right people to commit, implement and maintain Litigation Readiness Requires a delegated representative of the company with complete access to all relevant departments, including Legal, Marketing, Operations, Compliance and Training Requires a single-minded focus to stay current on: o What the company is doing o What the company is saying o How the company trains it employees o How customers and others view the company s performance Contact Information Michael Mallow Michael Thurman Partner and Chair, Partner Consumer Protection Defense Direct: and Unfair Competition mthurman@loeb.com Direct: mmallow@loeb.com 9