Chapter 12 - § 12.2 • ELEMENTS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 12.2 • ELEMENTS

To establish a private claim under the CCPA, the plaintiff must show:⁶

1) The defendant engaged in an unfair or deceptive trade practice as defined in C.R.S. § 6-1-105(1);⁷
2) The challenged practice occurred in the course of the defendant's business, vocation, or occupation;
3) The challenged practice significantly impacts the public as actual or potential consumers of the defendant's goods, services, or property;
4) The plaintiff suffered injury in fact to a legally protected interest; and
5) The challenged practice caused the plaintiff's injury.⁸

The CCPA is broadly construed, and "in determining whether conduct falls within the purview of the CCPA, it should ordinarily be assumed that the CCPA applies to the conduct."⁹ The CCPA is also not limited in its application to conduct before or at the time of the sale of goods, services, or property.¹⁰

§ 12.2.1—Pleading Requirements

Under C.R.C.P. 9(b), circumstances constituting fraud or mistake must be stated with particularity.¹¹ Colorado courts have said the CCPA was intended to protect against consumer fraud,¹² and thus a Colorado federal court has concluded that while claims under the CCPA are not precisely actions for fraud, the CCPA requires proof of many of the same elements as fraud and the requirement of particularity should be applied to allegations of deceptive trade practices under the CCPA.¹³

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Notes:

^[6] CJI-Civ. 29:1 (CLE ed. 2018); Hall, 969 P.2d 224.

^[7] The deceptive trade practices listed in the statute are in addition to and do not limit the types of unfair trade practices actionable at common law or under other Colorado statutes. C.R.S. § 6-1-105(3). See Hall, 969 P.2d at 237 (that plaintiff may have other statutory or common law causes of action based on same set of facts does not affect plaintiff's right to assert claim under CCPA). Under the statutory language, a claimant is not precluded from bringing other causes of action in addition to one based on the CCPA, but a plaintiff may not recover on two separate theories based on the same facts. Lexton-Ancira, 826 P.2d at 825. One example of another statutory action is found in the Colorado Unfair Competition-Deceptive Practices Act (UCDPA) (C.R.S. §§ 10-3-1101 through 10-3-1116). The UCDPA does not preempt a private cause of action by an insured under the CCPA. Showpiece Homes, 38 P.3d at 49 (CCPA meant to work in tandem with other regulatory provisions in Colorado statutes and specifically works in...