Understanding Florida’s Consumer Protection Law: FDUPTA Explained

1. FDUTPA was created to simplify, clarify, and modernize laws for consumer protection, unfair competition, and unfair trade practices.
2. The act seeks to protect consumers and legitimate businesses from unfair and deceptive practices in trade and commerce.
3. FDUTPA aims to align state consumer protection laws with established federal policies.
4. FDUTPA protects a wide range of entities, including individuals, businesses, and associations.
5. To be protected under FDUTPA, the consumer must suffer injury while participating in trade or commerce. – FDUTPA was not intended to contradict federal law, but rather to fill in gaps in federal consumer protection law.
– A major difference between the FTC Act and FDUTPA is that FDUTPA allows for a private cause of action, whereas the federal law does not.
– FDUTPA provides individuals with remedies that relieve the effects of the wrong and return them to their rightful position.
– Under FDUTPA, individuals may recover actual damages, plus attorney’s fees and court costs in any action brought as a result of a violation. 1. In order to bring an action under FDUTPA, a consumer must show a deceptive act or unfair practice, causation, and actual damages.
2. It is not necessary for a plaintiff to show reliance on the deceptive or unfair trade practice, but rather whether the practice was likely to deceive a reasonable consumer.
3. To bring an action against an individual, the plaintiff must allege that the individual was a direct participant in the dealings and had actual knowledge of the violations.
4. FDUTPA protects consumers from unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable acts or practices and provides private remedies not available under federal law.

https://www.jimersonfirm.com/blog/2017/02/floridas-deceptive-unfair-trade-practices-act-part-i-what-is-fdupta/