Consumer Rights
Are you looking for legal assistance regarding consumer rights? Call us at (216) 815-9500 or submit this form and one of our attorneys will contact you for a free consultation.
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In addition to various common law remedies already available, the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act outlines protections specifically for consumers and is designed to further compensate for traditional consumer remedies. Among the purposes of the CSPA are making enforcement appealing to consumers who otherwise might be unable to afford or justify the cost of pursuing a violation of the Act and, in turn, discouraging businesses from ever violating the Act.
The Act protects consumers from a variety of unfair, deceptive and unconscionable business practices by suppliers who engage in transactions with consumers. The term supplier includes sellers, lessors, assignors and franchisors, whether or not the person deals directly with the consumer. The Ohio Attorney General is accorded broad authority under the Act to investigate consumer complaints and to issue orders to stop unlawful actions by businesses. In certain egregious situations, a lawsuit by a consumer against a business may be warranted.
Options available to individual consumer claimants are rescission of the transaction, or recovery of the consumer’s actual economic damages. The recovery of noneconomic damages also is possible, but is limited to Five Thousand Dollars or 3x the amount of the actual economic damages. The treble damages are possible only if the act in question was expressly found to be unconscionable or deceptive by a statute or published court decision AND there are actual damages. Attorney’s fees may be awarded to a consumer who brings a successful case if the business has knowingly committed the unlawful act.