by Michael Cramer

Texas law protects consumers from “false, misleading or deceptive acts or practices.”

The term “false, misleading or deceptive acts or practices” includes, but is not limited to, the following acts:

1. passing off goods and services as those of another;
2. causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval or certification of goods or services;
3. causing confusion or misunderstanding as to affiliation, connection, association with or certification by another;
4. using deceptive representations or designatins of geographic origin in connection with goods or services;
5. representing that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits or quantities that they do not have, or that a person has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation or connection that he does not;
6. representing that goods are original or new if they are deteriorated, reconditioned, reclaimed, used or secondhand;
7. representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another;
8. disparaging the goods, services or business of another by false or misleading representation of facts;
9. advertising goods or services with intent not to sell them as advertised;
10. advertising goods or services with intent not to supply a reasonable expectable public demand, unless the advertisements disclosed a limitation of quantity;
11. making false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of or amount of price reductions;
12. representing that an agreement confers or involves rights, remedies or obligations that it does not have or involve, or that are prohibited by law;
13. knowingly making false or misleading statements of fact concerning the need for parts, replacement or repair service;
14. misrepresenting the authority of a salesman, representative or agent to negotiate the final terms of a consumer transaction;
15. basing a charge for the repair of any item in whole or in part on a guaranty or warranty instead of on the value of the actual repairs made or work performed on the item without stating separately the charges for the work and the charge for the warranty or guaranty, if any;
16. disconnecting, turning back or resetting the odometer of any motor vehicle so as to reduce the number of miles indicated on the odometer gauge;
17. advertising of any sale by fraudulently representing that a person is going out of business;
18. advertising, selling or distributing a card that purports to be a prescription drug identification card issued under Section 4151.152, Insurance Code, in accordance with rules adopted by the commissioner of insurance, which offers a discount on the purchase of health care goods or services from a third-party provider, and which is not evidence of insurance coverage, unless:
    1. the discount is authorized under an agreement between the seller of the card and the provider of those goods and services, or the discount or card is offered to members of the seller;
    2. the seller does not represent that the card provides insurance coverage of any kind; and
    3. the discount is not false, misleading or deceptive;
19. using or employing a chain referral sales plan in connection with the sale of or offer to sell goods, merchandise or anything of value, which uses a sales technique, plan, arrangement or agreement in which the buyer or prospective buyer is offered the opportunity to purchase merchandise or goods and in connection with the purchase receives the seller’s promise or representation that the buyer shall have the right to receive compensation or consideration in any form for furnishing to the seller the names of other prospective buyers if receipt of the compensation or consideration is contingent upon the occurrence of an event subsequent to the time the buyer purchases the merchandise or goods;
20. representing that a guarantee or warranty confers or involves rights or remedies that it does not have or involve, provided, however, that nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to expand the implied warranty of merchantability as defined in Sections 2.314 through 2.318 and Sections 2A.212 through 2A.216 to involve obligations in excess of those which are appropriate to the goods;
21. promoting a pyramid promotional scheme, as defined by Section 17.461;
22. representing that work or services have been performed on, or parts replaced in, goods when the work or services were not performed or the parts not replaced;
23. filing suit founded upon a written contractual obligation of and signed by the defendant to pay money arising out of or based on a consumer transaction for goods, services, loans or extensions of credit intended primarily for personal, family, household or agricultural use in any county other than in the county in which the defendant resides at the time of the commencement of the action or in the county in which the defendant in fact signed the contract; provided, however, that a violation of this subsection shall not occur where it is shown by the person filing such suit he neither knew or had reason to know that the county in which such suit was filed was neither the county in which the defendant resides at the commencement of the suit nor the county in which the defendant in fact signed the contract;
24. failing to disclose information concerning goods or services that was known at the time of the transaction if such failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have entered had the information been disclosed;
25. using the term “corporation” or “incorporated,” or an abbreviation of either of those terms, in the name of a business entity that is not incorporated under the laws of this state or another jurisdiction;
26. selling, offering to sell or illegally promoting an annuity contract under Chapter 22, Acts of the 57th Legislature, 3rd Called Session, 1962 (Article 6228a-5, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes), with the intent that the annuity contract will be the subject of a salary reduction agreement, as defined by that Act, if the annuity contract is not an eligible qualified investment under that Act or is not registered with the Teacher Retirement System of Texas as required by Section 8A of that Act; or
27. taking advantage of a disaster declared by the governor under Chapter 418, Government Code, by:
    1. selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine or another necessity at an exorbitant or excessive price; or
    2. demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine or another necessity.

If you have been a victim of any of the above types of transactions, you may be able to recover up to three times the amount of damages that the fraudulent transaction cost you. Specifically, you may sue for the following:

1. The consumer may sue for the amount of economic damages.
2. If the conduct of the defendant was committed knowingly, the consumer may also recover damages for mental anguish and not more than three times the amount of economic damages.
3. If the conduct was committed intentionally, the consumer may recover damages for mental anguish, and not more than three times the amount of damages for mental anguish and economic damages.
4. Each consumer who prevails shall be awarded court costs and reasonable and necessary attorney fees.

If you feel that you have been the victim of any false, misleading or deceptive practice, please call the attorneys at Bailey & Galyen.

www.thetexasbusinessattorney.com