Light bulb manufacturer ordered to pay consumers $21 million

Lights of America, a light bulb manufacturer whose LED bulbs were sold in big box stores, including Costco, Sam’s Club and Walmart, made misleading claims about the bulbs’ light output, life expectancy and brightness, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday.A federal court in California has ordered the company to pay up to $21 million to consumers after the FTC sued the firm for violating federal law by making deceptive claims. On packaging and in product brochures, the defendants initially claimed their products had a 30,000-hour life and last “15 times longer than 2,000-hour incandescent bulbs.”