Consumer Protection

Consumer Protection Class Action

Consumer Fraud and Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices.

Families who purchase products and services are entitled to truthful information and fair practices when they spend their hard-earned money. When financial institutions, insurance companies, rental car agencies and other corporations deceive or take advantage of consumers through deceptive and unfair practices we level the playing field.  Normand PLLC represents consumers in class action suits that compensate consumers harmed by corporate greed. 

Because it is too expensive for individuals to sue large companies over individual, but legitimate, losses from unfair and deceptive corporate practices, our class action recoveries are often the only realistic means for an individual to recover damages caused by widespread corporate deceit. We represent consumers from every state in the United States and every country in the European Union as well as consumers from countries around the world with clients residing from Afghanistan and Algeria to Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen.

Florida Unfair and Deceptive Acts Protections:

Under Florida law, “unfair methods of competition, unconscionable acts or practices, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce” are unlawful. See Fla. Stat. § 501.204 and Florida Code § 501.204. “Trade or commerce means the advertising, soliciting, providing, offering, or distributing, whether by sale, rental, or otherwise, of any good or service, or any property, whether tangible or intangible, or any other article, commodity, or thing of value, wherever situated. “Trade or commerce” shall include the conduct of any trade or commerce, however denominated, including any nonprofit or not-for-profit person or activity.” Florida Code § 501.203(8).

For example, it would likely be consider unfair or deceptive if a car dealership represented that a vehicle had never been in an accident or repainted when really that car had been in a severe accident and had been repaired and repainted. See Fort Lauderdale Lincoln Mercury v. Corgnati, 715 So. 2d 311, 312-13 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1998)

Who Can You Complain to in Florida?

Office of Attorney General
State of Florida
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
(850) 414-3990
http://myfloridalegal.com

Possible Penalties

Some of the penalties that fraudulent or deceptive advertisers may suffer in Florida include:

Up to $10,000 for each willful violation of the law against unfair or deceptive advertising (Florida Code § 501.2075);

The cost of reasonable attorney’s fees of the person suing, if that person wins the lawsuit (Florida Code § 501.2105);

Actual damages (Florida Code § 501.211).

Researching Consumer Complaints

Can A Private Citizen File A False And Deceptive Advertising Lawsuit?

Yes, a private citizen may file a false and deceptive advertising lawsuit against a manufacturer or seller if that citizen was the victim of deceptive or false practices.

Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Representation In Florida

It can be quite complicated and challenging to prove a false and deceptive advertising case under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA). The false and deceptive advertising attorneys at Normand PLLC have years of actual experience in helping consumers in Florida, who are victims of deceptive trade practices.  We often pursue claims for unfair and deceptive acts as a class action. 

Examples include:

1. Unfair rental car company practices
2. Unfair insurance sale practices
3. Defective Products
4. Warranty claims
5. False advertising

CAR RENTAL CLASS ACTION

We represent hundreds of thousands of Florida tourists from across the world who rented a vehicle from Avis and Budget car rental.  These renters bought and paid for a million dollars in liability insurance to protect them in the event of a car crash with the rental vehicle.  The court has ruled in favor of our clients holding that Avis Budget took their money but never bought the insurance policy.  Avis now owes a refund to the customers for the insurance it sold but never provided. 

The case proceeded to judgment for the class representative who claimed she was owed a refund for the insurance premium for the insurance that she paid for but never got.   Normand PLLC successfully obtained a judgment for the Plaintiff  for a full refund of 100% of the policy premium of $12.44 per day.  Normand PLLC has been appointed by the Middle District Court of Florida to represent a class of renters seeking a refund of the $12.44 daily premium for over 3 million rental days. 

Airline Disputes

Travel throughout the United States and abroad was severely disrupted due to government shutdowns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many national and international flights were cancelled by the airlines due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. For many cancelled flights, the airlines were required to refund the purchase price paid by the consumer for the airline tickets.

Refunds were often required by the customer contracts, and were also recommended by the Department of Transportation (DOT) guidance following pandemic travel restrictions. Normand PLLC is currently engaged in numerous class-action lawsuits seeking to recoup the cost of un-refunded airline tickets on behalf of class members.

If you purchased an airline ticket that was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the airline refused to refund your ticket price, contact Normand PLLC for a free consultation. 

BANK FEE CLASS ACTION

Consider a hypothetical where a person starts the day with $45.00 in his checking account because he forgot to deposit a check. In the morning, he spends $3.00 on a cup of coffee. He then drops by the pharmacy and spends $10.00 on a few items on his way to work. On his way home from work, he spends $50.00 on groceries. Whoops – he probably got an overdraft fee on that last transaction, didn’t he? Wrong. He actually got three overdraft fees. 

When you use your debit card, oftentimes the transaction doesn’t actually happen until later that day, sometimes days later. The bank then processes them all at one time. Unfortunately, sometimes banks or credit unions take advantage of this by strategically determining the order in which the transactions are processed (even though they are essentially be processed simultaneously). In our hypothetical, the bank might decide to process the groceries first (boom, overdraft fee), then the pharmacy (boom, another overdraft fee), and then the coffee (boom, another overdraft fee). As such, our poor guy gets hit with three overdraft fees, even though had the bank processed the transactions in the order in which they occurred, he only would have received one fee. 

This is just one example of how banks and credit unions take advantage of consumers’ lack of awareness and ability to navigate the unnecessarily complicated algorithms driving our cashless economy. Examples abound: Consider automated, periodic payments such as a power bill or monthly cable payment (these are called ACH payments). Most banks tell their customers they will charge a fee per transaction if they deny a payment for insufficient funds. If your cable company requests payment from the bank and is denied, usually they ask again one or twice over the next few days. It is not another transaction – it is just another request for the same transaction. Yet many banks and credit unions will charge a fee on each request, not just each transaction. 

We could keep going. Suffice it to say, fees imposed by banks related to checking accounts and ATM transactions are rife with abuse and unfair practices. Normand PLLC has successfully litigated numerous cases recovering unfairly imposed fees for consumers against banks and credit unions throughout Florida. If you think you have been hit with unfair or wrongfully-imposed charges or fees, let us know and we will be happy to investigate.