Consumer protection laws prohibit a wide range of unfair, misleading, or deceptive business practices. Examples include false advertising, pyramid schemes, and tricky pricing.
These tactics cost consumers billions of dollars each year. Attorney generals fight these scams in many ways, including consumer education and mediation of individual complaints. They also bring class action lawsuits when appropriate.
Representation in Court
A lawyer can help consumers stand up to companies that engage in unfair practices. Attorneys have the skills to file suit and negotiate settlements in cases involving credit card companies, banks, auto dealers and debt collectors. They can also file class action consumer protection lawsuits, representing multiple people with similar claims against a company.
These class actions can result in substantial sums of money for plaintiffs. The lawsuits can also make businesses that break the law think twice about their activities in the future. Consumers looking for a consumer protection lawyer should consider the cost, location of the attorney’s office and how long the case is expected to last. They should also ask for references from previous clients and check their reputation with the state bar association’s professional responsibility board.
They should get a good feel for an attorney’s professionalism during their initial consultation. The National Consumer Law Center’s website is useful for information about major consumer law issue areas and policy advocacy. Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau websites provide updates on enforcement activity.
Educating Clients
An important part of consumer law is teaching consumers the warning signs of scams and fraud. This is why consumer attorneys frequently speak to groups of consumers on topics such as avoiding mortgage fraud, credit report errors, and dealing with debt collectors.
To be unfair, a practice must cause substantial injury that consumers cannot reasonably avoid and is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or competition. Actual injury typically involves a loss of money or a significant risk of a financial loss. Emotional or speculative harms do not usually rise to the level of unfairness.
Seasoned lawyers for consumer protection can help you bring an unfair trade practices lawsuit against a business that has taken advantage of you. These cases are essential to keep companies in check and ensure they follow the rules and play fair.
Many states have various laws that prevent unfair trade practices in different areas, including automobiles, credit reports and scores, homes, insurance policies, and debt collection. These laws often apply to for-profit businesses and provide a level of protection not available to non-profit companies.
Negotiating Settlements
Consumer protection lawyers negotiate to settle disputes between consumers and businesses that have incurred significant financial losses. They can help consumers recover from false advertising, defective products, data breaches and other unfair business practices that have harmed them. Successful negotiation requires cooperation.
Hostility, distrust, stubbornness and attempts to gain unjustified advantages are counterproductive to settlement. They tend to generate non-cooperation from the other side, making it impossible to reach an agreement.
Conversely, cooperating with the other party tends to elicit concessions from them. A common negotiating tactic is to raise the major issues first. This can increase the chances of reaching a final settlement, but only if the problem is objectively important. Alternatively, some negotiators suggest that the order should be reversed — putting forward the least valuable items first.
Another important point is whether to use item-by-item or lump sum negotiation. Some tactics are unethical, such as bluffing and fraud, but others can be effective, such as offering to split the difference in cases where deadlock has been reached over trivial amounts.
Representation in Class Actions
If a violation of consumer protection laws affects many people at once, it may be possible to bring a class action lawsuit against the defendant. Class actions allow lawyers to represent the interests of large groups of clients simultaneously, and often with less expense than individually litigated cases.
Before a lawsuit is filed, the prospective named plaintiffs must become clients of the lawyer who will file the class action complaint (the “class counsel”). Then, the class counsel must establish that they are qualified and experienced to prosecute the case and that the named plaintiffs share the same claims or defenses, suffer the same injury, and have an interest that is not antagonistic to other class members. Aside from monetary recovery, consumer protection lawsuits can cause companies to change their practices.
Whether for credit card errors that have not been corrected, harassment by debt collectors or a defective automobile seat heater, a consumer protection attorney can help you obtain the compensation you deserve. It’s also important to remember that while you seek recovery for your losses, the class representative plaintiff takes on more responsibility and risk than other class members.
Representation in Arbitration
Many consumers and workers sign contracts with arbitration clauses when they buy goods or services or apply for jobs. These agreements allow companies to avoid courts, where litigation can be costly and lengthy for both parties. They also rely on arbitrators to use laws and procedures fairly.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently proposed prohibiting consumer financial product contracts from combining arbitration clauses that deny consumers their day in court with terms that ban class actions. This rule is the first and will be crucial in restoring consumer rights.
Research has shown that the CFPB’s proposed rule will deter wrongdoing by making it more expensive for companies to commit consumer rights violations. In addition to recovering monetary damages, a successful consumer protection lawsuit can force malfeasant companies to change their practices and policies.
