DEFINITION

• Consumer Law consists of regulations and statutes that seek to create a more equitable balance for a buyer in the marketplace.

• The protection of consumers dates back as far back as the 17th century, when the term "caveat emptor" ("Let the buyer beware") was coined.

• A consumer is any individual who purchases products and/or services. Consumers are distinguished from manufacturers (who produce goods) and wholesalers or retailers (who sell goods).

• Consumer protection law is designed to protect consumers against unfair trade and credit practices involving faulty or dangerous goods. It consists of federal and state statutes governing sales and credit practices. Such statutes prohibit and regulate deceptive or unconscionable advertising and sales practices, product quality, credit financing and reporting, debt collection, leases and other aspects of consumer transactions. Some examples of such statutes are Equal Credit Opportunity Act; Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the Truth-in-Lending Act.

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RELATED PRACTICE AREAS

Business & Commercial Law
Banking & Finance Law
Real Estate Law

BUZZWORDS

Consumer Goods - Items which are used or bought for primarily personal, family or household purposes.

Consumer Product Safety Commission - A federal agency that has primary responsibility for establishing mandatory product safety standards to reduce the unreasonable risk of injury to consumers from consumer products.

Consumer Protection - Laws designed to protect consumers against unfair trade and credit practices involving faulty or dangerous goods.

Debt - A fixed and certain obligation to pay money or some other valuable thing, either in the present or in the future.

Equal Credit Opportunity Act - A federal act prohibiting a creditor from discriminating against any applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex or marital status. (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1691)

Garnishment - Satisfaction of an obligation from a debtor's property or wages.

Magnuson- Moss Warranty Act - A federal statute requiring that written warranties to consumer products must fully and conspicuously disclose the terms and conditions of the warranty in simple, readily understood language. (15 U.S.C. Sec. 2301)

Repossession - The act of recovering goods sold on credit or installment when the buyer fails to pay for them.

Truth- in- Lending Act - A federal act assuring that every individual who has need for consumer credit is given full disclosure of the terms and cost of the credit. (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1601)

Uniform Commercial Code - A uniform law, adopted by some states, designed to simplify and modernize the consumer credit and usury laws, to further consumer understanding of the terms of credit transactions and to protect consumers against unfair practices.

Warranty - In contract law, an express or implied promise that something in furtherance of the contract is guaranteed, especially a seller's promise that the thing being sold is as represented.

Warranty of Merchantability (Fitness for a particular purpose) - A promise arising by operation of law that something sold shall be merchantable and fit for the purpose required.

PRACTICE AREA NOTES

• Consumer Law covers many issues relating to the protection of the consumer and the regulation of businesses like stores, banks and credit companies.
• Consumer Law issues may involve civil complaints (civil liability for violation of the Truth-in-Lending Act may incur damages and/or attorney fees) or criminal actions (criminal liability for fraud may incur fines, imprisonment or both).