Although Tel-Law information is periodically reviewed, it is important for you to realize that changes may occur in this area of law. This information is not intended to be legal advice regarding your particular problem, and it is not intended to replace the work of an attorney.

If you do not have an attorney, the Oregon State Bar Lawyer Referral Service can help you. Online Lawyer Referral Service information and a fill-in form is available. Or you may contact the service by phone: The number to call from the Portland area is 503-684-3763 or toll-free from anywhere else in Oregon, 1-800-452-7636.

The following information regarding consumer law is brought to you as a public service by the lawyers of the State of Oregon. The material presented is general legal information intended to alert you to possible legal problems and solutions.

Oregon has a law called the Unlawful Trade Practices Act. This law applies when a consumer purchases real estate, goods or services for personal or household use from a seller who regularly engages in that business or occupation. This law also applies to healthcare professionals who commit practices prohibited by this law in the course of providing professional services. In general, most purchases or leases, including those involving used goods, like cars, are covered by this law. However, keep in mind that this law does not apply to the purchase of insurance, a loan of money, extension of credit or Landlord-Tenant disputes. Moreover, this law does not create a cause of action for personal injury.

The Unlawful Trade Practices Act prohibits many practices, most of them involving some form of deception or misrepresentation by the seller. You may want to obtain a copy of the Act from the Oregon Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection/Financial Fraud, located in the Justice Building, 1162 Court Street, Salem, Oregon 97301, telephone (877) 877 9392 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. You also may register a complaint about an unlawful trade practice with this agency, which was created to enforce this law. In addition to phoning the office, consumer complaints may now be made online at www.doj.state.or.us and clicking the “consumer complaint form” link. While The Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection/Financial Fraud does not represent individual consumers, it can sometimes help individual injured consumers resolve their complaints with businesses by mediating and helping them get their money back.

There are also many other places than the Attorney General’s office where consumers may turn for help. The first thing a consumer should do is to properly classify their complaint; the second is to know where to take it.

For complaints about defective new vehicles, for example, consumers may want to call the Better Business Bureau, which operates an arbitration service for several major auto-makers.

For complaints about insurance, consumers may want to contact the state’s Insurance Division; for complaints with a regional or national impact, the Federal Trade Commission may help.

If efforts you make to resolve your complaint are not successful - either by dealing directly with the business or through one of the agencies just described - you may wish to file an action in small claims court, or consult a lawyer. If you can prove that you have suffered any actual loss as a result of an unlawful trade practice and that the business knew or should have known that its conduct or that of its agents violated the law, then you may be awarded the amount of your loss, or $200, whichever is greater. You may also ask to be compensated for your attorney’s fees. And, if the conduct was intentional and malicious, you may ask for punitive damages that may be greater than your actual loss.

If the business wins the case, however, the consumer faces having to pay the defendant’s attorneys fees. This is true even if the case was involuntarily dismissed because the consumer ran out of funds to keep the lawsuit going.

Now, here's a list of the most common violations of the Unlawful Trade Practices Act: misrepresenting the characteristics, benefits and qualities of the product or services offered; making false or misleading statements about prices, including price reductions; causing confusion about important aspects of a transaction, such as the approval, sponsorship or certification of the product by others; representing that used or altered goods are new; discrediting another's products or services by false or misleading representations about them; false advertising; false representations about the availability of credit; false representations that goods are available for sale when in fact the goods are not available, or available in only a very limited quantity; false or misleading representations about prizes, contests or promotions used to publicize a product, business or service; promises to deliver by a certain time with intent not to deliver as promised; unauthorized service or dismantling of goods or real estate; and telephone or door-to-door solicitation without proper identification.

The misrepresentations covered by this law can come in many forms, and can be either spoken or written. An unlawful practice may be committed even by the failure to disclose an important fact. In addition, the Act requires that certain disclosures be made when the seller knows that there are material defects in real estate, goods or services.

If you feel you have been victimized, you should keep all your contracts, canceled checks and any other documents pertaining to the transaction. If you wish to file a court action concerning an Unlawful Trade Practice, you must file it within one year from the date the seller committed the violation, or the date you reasonably should have discovered the violation of the act.

This information is from the Oregon State Bar's Tel-law service, a collection of recorded legal information messages prepared by the lawyers of Oregon. In addition to being online, the Tel-law service is accessible by telephone at 503-620-3000 or toll-free in Oregon only, 1-800-452-4776. A touch tone phone allows direct access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To receive a free Tel-law brochure listing the subjects available call 503-620-0222, ext. 0.