Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA): An Overview
by
Joseph C. Maya on Jul. 10, 2017
Business Consumer Rights Consumer Protection
Summary: A blog post about the Connecticut laws centered around trade practices and consumer protection
If you have any questions, please contact the experienced business formation attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. at (203) 221-3100 or at JMaya@Mayalaw.com.
What is CUTPA?
Every state has some type of consumer protection or trade protection law that seeks to prohibit and punish unfair or deceptive acts in trade or commerce. Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) is modeled after the Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
CUTPA is located at Connecticut General Statutes section 42-110b. It states that “[n]o person shall engage in unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce.” Under CGS section 41-110g, attorneys who are able to prove a CUTPA violation may be able to recover attorney’s fees, punitive damages, and costs for their clients.
How Do You Prove a CUTPA Violation?
An attorney must prove that their client suffered “any ascertainable loss of money or property, real or personal, as a result of the use or employment of a method, act or practice prohibited by section 42-110g. . .” In order to determine what an unfair or deceptive act is, Connecticut courts refer back to the Federal Trade Commission and the “cigarette rule.”
The cigarette rule is a three-pronged test. All three criteria do not need to be met in order to find unfairness; rather, a practice may be unfair due to the degree to which it meets one of the criteria, or because to a lesser extent it meets all three prongs. The prongs are as follows:
- whether the practice, without necessarily having been previously considered unlawful, offends public policy as it has been established by statutes, the common law, or otherwise-in other words, it is within at least the penumbra of some common law, statutory, or other established concept of unfairness;
- whether it is immoral, unethical, oppressive, or unscrupulous;
- whether it causes substantial injury to consumers, [competitors or other business persons].
Not every act or conduct which may fit the criteria will be considered a violation of CUTPA. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some actions or conduct that are automatically violations of CUTPA, such as a failure to follow the Home Improvement Act or to register a trade name.
The attorneys in the business law group of Maya Murphy, P.C. stand ready to advise our clients on potential violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and to assess the viability of claims under the statute. Contact our attorneys today for assistance with your business law or litigation case. Call 212-682-5700 for our New York offices or 203-221-3100 for our Connecticut office.
