Wisconsin

• Pages: 633-647

633

CHAPTER 51

WISCONSIN

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

Wisconsin’s laws prohibiting unfair methods of competition and

fraudulent representations in marketing are codified separately.

1. Unfair Methods of Competition and Unfair Trade Practices

The state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act (WUTPA)1 prohibits both

“unfair methods of competition in business” and “u nfair trade practices in

business.”2However, the WUTPA does not distinguish between unfair

“methods of competition” and “unfair trade practices” and Wisconsin courts

do not appear to have addressed this issue. The WUTPA also bans specific

“unfair ” practices, such as the maki ng of misrepresentations in

connection with a “close-out” sale and the comparison of a new motor

vehicle selling price to a manufacturer’s suggested retail price absent clear

and conspicuous disclosure that the latter price is a suggested, not actual,

price.3 The WUTPA also prohibits a person from providing “any service

which the person has the ability to withhold that facilitates or promotes

an unfair method of competition in business . . . an unfair trade practice

in business . . . or any other activity which is a violation of” the trade

practices chapter of the Wisconsin Statutes.4

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer

Protection (DATCP) is authorized to promulgate administrative rules of

general application, defining unfair methods of competition andunfair

trade practices under the WUTPA.5 These rules often address a specific

trade sector, such as home improvement services,6 manufactured home

communities,7 and residential rental practices.8 Other of these rules focus

on specific methods of marketing used in more than one trade area, such

1. WIS.STAT. § 100.20.

2. Id. § 100.20(1).

3. Id. §§ 100.18(3m), (10m); 100.20 (1m), (1r).

4. Id. § 100.20(1t).

5. Id. § 100.20(2). In the statute, administrative rules such as these are called

“general orders.”

6. WIS.ADMIN.CODE ATCP § 110.

7. Id. § 125.

8. Id. § 134.