Your Baby Can Read! Reaches Settlement with FTC

9/11/2012 5:00 PM EST

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a $185 million settlement with Your Baby Can Read!  to settle a claim that ads for the infant reading program were untrue and based on unsubstantiated scientific studies.

The FTC sued Your Baby Can LLC of Carlsbad, California, and its former president and CEO Hugh Penton Jr. along with the creator of the program Robert Titzer, a professor specializing in infant research, according to The National Law Journal (subscription required).

As part of the settlement, the company and its CEO agreed to stop using the phrase “Your Baby Can Read!” and will pay the $185 million—the amount made by the company in gross sales earnings since 2008, writes The National Law Journal. However, they did not admit any wrongdoing.

Since Your Baby Can Read!  is out of business, the FTC  agreed  to suspend all but $500,000 of the judgment. The case against Titzer is still pending, according to The National Law Journal.

Your Baby Can Read! purported to teach reading to children aged three months to five years and the ads claimed that two studies showed that the program helped in infant cognitive development.

If your child has been harmed by consumer fraud, contact Sokolove Law today for a free legal consultation and to find out if a consumer fraud lawyer may be able to help you.