After losing a preliminary injunction motion, hearing unfavorable dicta on the outcome of the case from the court on discovery motions, and facing a preliminary oral ruling from the bench that the defendants would likely be entitled to summary judgment, the FTC was granted summary judgment on its unfairness claim in the Qchex case. Upheld on appeal with excellent lawyering by OGC, this was a massive team effort involving more than 20 staff and managers. The case has served to be persuasive authority on many subsequent unfairness cases. The moment I heard we won summary judgment, I actually broke down.

On a lighter note, Mickey Mora and I will never forget being in Miami in the late summer midday heat wheeling around two hand trucks filled with 6 bankers boxes of TRO materials. The district courthouse was under construction, requiring us to walk blocks in the sun to get to one judge’s chambers, then, when that judge decided to reassign the matter to a different judge, to another judge’s chambers. Though we didn’t look terribly cool, we got a cool TRO.

—Debbie Matties