The USA Consumer Law - Assignment Example

Consumer Law Questions Part No. Answer 2) discount 2 requires claims for pure economic loss must be brought in contract not tort 3. (3) the reasonable consumer 4. (4) the consumer must suffer pecuniary (money) loss 5. (4) Intent to deceive 6. (1) Let the buyer beware 7. (1) 50, 000, 000 8. (3) American 9. (4) Ran the advertisement many times but never sold any of the product 10. (4) Chapter 20 11. (1) knew the representation was false 12. (2) Time share sales 13. (4) Making any misrepresentation regarding their services 14. (2) Merchants must charge an ordinary price 15. (4) Damages for medical bills 16. (4) Visa collecting its own debts 17. (3) Damages for mental anguish 18. (2) Disability 19. (3) Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act 20. (4) Sanction for similar misconduct Part 2 Question A In this case, Casey (Buyer) after a long search for the house of her choice, she gets a house advertisement that described the house as perfect, in excellent condition and that it had just been painted. Its price was more favorable and upon spending an hour with seller looking on the property and although they didn’t talk a lot owing to the language barrier, she verified the description of the house to be true and on the following day she signed a contract to buy the said house. After a week lapsed following her moving in, a neighbor visited and informed her that the mother to the seller had been brutally murdered in the same house and that her blood covered all the walls of the house. Casey became so upset and distracted owing to nightmares that lead to her job loss. She wants to move out of the house but her effort to sell it could not even fetch a half of what he had spent in its purchase. Casey obviously feels deceived and treated unfairly by the seller as the latter failed to disclose the happenings that had happened in the house prior to its painting and subsequent sale. However it is not clear whether the seller is in real estate business and the fact that his mother was brutally murdered in his house does not out rule this possibility. It is clear that at the time the transaction took place, the buyer intends to purchase the house for her household, family or personal purposes and not for resale. As such we will consider Casey (buyer) to be a consumer. Since this forms a consumer transaction, the buyer can initiate legal claims under deceptive trade practices under the Federal Trade Commission Act or the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act that she was deceived by the seller. Casey in her legal claim that she was deceived by the seller, she can refer to the fact that the advertisement that she relied on was misleading and thus illegal. The advertisement described the house to have just been painted but upon the neighbor visited Caser, he informs her of what had happened in the same house and at this point we realize that it had been repainted so as to attract a new the buyer as opposed to the normal painting. The actual statement in the advertisement concerning the product’s (the house) quality and ingredients (painting) is fake. Also the advertisement described the house to be “a perfect house, in excellent condition.” The wording of this statement aims at guaranteeing the buyer of satisfaction and value for her money on acquiring the house. But the statement is deceptive since the seller has not committed himself to refund the cost incurred in acquiring the house in full or either replace the house and does not offer the buyer a chance to freely opt for one of the two choices. In our case, Casey just moved Texas from France; she is not good in English and it was hard for her to understand the Texas accent of the seller and this renders her vulnerable. As such she just spent one hour with the seller looking on the house. This implies that the seller took advantage of the bargaining power of the buyer owing to her vulnerability and this amount to deceptive and unfair trade practices. In our case, Caser signed a contract to purchase the house on the following day after just looking the house for one house and insufficient talk with the seller. This speedy move raises the likelihood of misunderstanding and confusion that signifies an element of deceit in the transaction. Based on the above facts, Casey’s legal claims on being deceived is more likely to prevail. Part 2 Question B Punitive damages Punitive damages are also referred to as the exemplary damages are monetary compensation which is awarded to the plaintiff (the injured party) in excess of the actual amount necessary for compensating him/her for the losses suffered. The punitive damages aim at punishing the wrongdoer. This implies that if the legal claims on deceit by Casey are successful, Trier of the facts may award punitive damages that will be in excess of $300, 000 that Casey had spent to purchase the house. The litigant however has to prove that if additional damages were imposed on the defendant, her individual interests and those of the society will be met. Treble Damages Treble damages means that the real damages to the injured party through deception by the other party in trade are tripled i.e. the plaintiff after winning the case is awarded the actual amount she lost owing to the defendant’s illegitimate conduct and additional damages triple that amount. The injured party must prove clearly with supportive and convincing evidence that the person he claims to have deceived him engaged in bad faith or with a clear intent or willingness to deceive. Attorneys fees Attorney’s fees include the legal representation costs that a party or a client to an attorney incurs. Upon the plaintiff succeeding in the legal claim, the loosing defendant will have to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees. It is worth noting that the term “attorney fees” refers to belongs to prevailing party and not to the attorney, in addition to supplementary court costs. Minimum Statutory Damages Minimum Statutory damages are the awarded to a petitioner upon proving beyond reasonable doubt a particular deceptive trade practice although the appellant have not proven authentic damages. In our case, Casey admits that the house I to some extent cheaper and better compared to other houses she had earlier found and thus she might have not incurred actual financial loss. By merely proving that the other party engaged in a deceiving act, she will be awarded minimum statutory damages that vary with states. Part 2 Question C It is imperative to have an effective and efficient means of enforcing consumer rights. The correct measure for the accomplishment of the said rights relies on the rightful implementation of regulations and rules and this can be done in two ways i.e. public and private enforcement. In Private enforcement procedure or method, all costs are borne by the parties involved, the consumer has a choice on whether to enforce or not and this is done through monetary damages. Alternatively, Public enforcement procedure, the total expenses are borne by the government which makes each and every decision. Public enforcement procedure also takes the form of criminal and civil sanctions. Benefits of private enforcement of consumer laws Private enforcement involves fewer resources in its enforcement e.g. the security system is not heavily involved. Private enforcement of consumer laws e.g. through arbitration is faster and cheap .in this procedure the most relevant case can be prioritized. This is because it is less formal and hence the process gets lead of many formalities common with the court system. Also, the arbitrators are not overweighed by many and diverse case as compared to the juries and judges and hence they demonstrate higher efficiency. Private enforcement is less divisive as the process is more inclined to resolving differences rather than punishing and eventually both the complainant and the offender end making up and avoiding hostility. Detriments of private enforcement of consumer laws Private bodies are far much limited in terms of powers to conduct investigations and this hampers the efforts to gather enough evidence e.g. power to arrest and interrogate. Private organizations are commonly faced with the problem of data protection. Private enforcement of consumer laws can be very expensive e.g. it can be very hard to secure a willing arbitrator and when found, he/she may insist on being highly compensated. The process does not involve juries and hence the much needed expertise may be lacking which may jeopardize the real enforcement. Private enforcement does not leave room for appeal in case one party feels that a degree of fairness on his/her side was not met and this may give room for injustice. This process is open to manipulation as it is not bound by law and common rules of practice. Benefits of public enforcement of consumer laws Government is in a position to protect data necessary for enforcement purposes; the process is backed by a security system and the procedure is well established. The government can freely conduct investigations without any difficulties and hence can gather sufficient evidence to support the enforcement. Detriments of public enforcement of consumer laws Public enforcement of consumer laws is a procedure that makes up more resources e.g. experts such as juries and the security system. Public authorities are tie by the duty to put into consideration every case file by consumer organizations and hence cannot opt for the case with more relevance. Part 2 Question D Identity theft happens when personal information belonging to a particular individual gets stolen and subsequently used without his/her consent or knowledge. It can be very hard to realize that your own identity has been stolen not until one notices something somewhere is amiss. E.g. an individual may not have applied for a credit card yet he/she receives bills or in case he/she already has a credit card, her credit report may have debts not known to her; the particular time when she receives statements may lapse without receipt of the same; her bills might include charges unto which she did not authorize, sign for or had any knowledge about. On realizing that her identity has been stolen, first she should place a fraud alert on her credit reports and review them. This will limit the one who has stolen her identity from opening additional accounts on her name. She should contact the fraud number of any national consumer reporting companies and put a fraud alert on her credit report, this is a free service. After placing fraud alerts she will be eligible to order copies of her credit report for free and regularly review them. Secondly, she should all accounts which knows or believes to have been opened fraudulently or tampered with. She should call and write to the bank and credit card firms. Upon opening fresh accounts, fresh passwords and PINs must be used. Thirdly, she needs to file a report with the police locally or in the community where the theft of identity took place and on acquire its number or a copy of the same. Fourthly, she needs to file her grievance with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) where she will provide important information assist in tracking down the identity thieves nationwide and arrest them. She has right to claim damages if a credit bureau fails to correct the mistakes on credit report in receipt of the same and this act makes the consumer to suffer damages. These damages can are claimed under FCRA owing failure to conduct investigations; this can only be done upon lapse of the thirty days period of investigation. In future she should take control by constantly reviewing her credit reports, reading her bank account statement carefully and promptly. She should handle her personal information with care so that they do not leak out. If she has to sue the credit bureau, she stands to recover those damages that will be outstanding after the thirty days investigation period lapses and upon prove that the CRA (consumer reporting agency) did not conduct any reasonable investigation following a report by the customer regarding the mistakes or it ignored reasonable procedures that would have enhanced accuracy. References Federal Trade Commission: Facts for Consumers- Identity Crisis... What to Do If Your Identity is stolen. Retrieved: August 12, 2005 From http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt07.shtm Karp, J., Elliot, I.K. & Gibson, K. (2003). Real Estate Law. 5th Ed. Dearborn Publishers Richard, A. (2009). NALSAR and the International Association for Consumer Law: The 12th International Consumer Law Conference Blog. Retrieved May 09, 2009 From http://nalsarconsumerconference.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/26th-consumer-arbitration-and-adr/ Read More