Connecticut

• Pages: 87-101

87

CHAPTER 8

CONNECTICUT

A. Scope of the Statute and Elements of a Cause of Action

The Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) prohibits

“unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in

the conduct of any trade or commerce.”1The terms “trade” and

“commerce” have been defined to mean “the advertising, the sale or rent

or lease, the offering for sale or rent or lease, or the distribution of any

services and any property, tangible or intangible, real, personal or mixed,

and any other article, commodity, or thing of value in this state.”2

As of 2021, ninety-four separate state statutes have been expressly

incorporated into CUTPA by Connecticut’s legislature, the General

Assembly. Thus, a violation of each of these ninety-three statutes

constitutes a per se violation of CUTPA. Additionally, there are more than

twenty-five regulations adopted by the principal administrator of CUTPA,

the Commissioner of Consumer Protection, most of which have the force

and effect of law.3 These include, for example, statutes regulating funeral

service contracts, home improvement contractors, health club contracts,

home solicitation sales, mobile home parks and telemarketing, and

regulations concerning comparison price advertising and automobile

advertising practices.4 The Connecticut legislature has directed that, in the

1. CONN.GEN.STAT. § 42-110b(a).

2. Id. § 42-110a(4). The Connecticut Supreme Court in W. Dermatology

Consultants v. VitalWorks, Inc., 153 A.3d 574 (Conn. 2016), expressed no

opinion regarding the meaning of “in this state” in Section 42-110a(4), but

rather applied the most significant relationship test contained in Section 145

of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws with respect to whether

New Mexico or Connecticut law applied to the particular facts of the case.

3. CONN.AGENCIES REGS. §§ 42-110b-1 to 42-110b-8 were adopted prior to

a 1975 amendment to CUTPA, P.A. 75-618, authorizing the Commissioner

of Consumer Protection to promulgate regulations that would have the

force and effect of law. The original language in the public act that created

CUTPA in 1973, P.A. 73-615, only authorized the Commissioner to adopt

interpretative regulations.

4. See, e.g., ROBERT M.LANGER,JOHN T.MORGAN &DAVID L.BELT,

CONNECTICUT UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES,BUSINESS TORTS AND

ANTITRUST, Apps. B, E (Connecticut Practice Series No. 12, 2021-2022