Consumer Protection Laws (Scope)

"Tennessee Statutes are now housed on LexisNexis.

The state consumer protection act is still codified beginning at Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-101. Rental purchase agreements are governed by sections beginning at Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-601."

The TCPA protects the rights of all "consumers," which is defined to include business entities as well as natural persons. Id. § 47-18-103(2) and (9). (The Tennessee Rental-Purchase Agreement Act defines "consumer" more narrowly as "a natural person who rents personal property under a rental-purchase agreement" in TCA § 47-18-603(3).) The TCPA provides that "unfair or deceptive acts or practices affecting the conduct of any trade or commerce" are unlawful. TCA § 47-18-104. The statutory scheme enumerates over thirty non-exclusive examples of such unfair or deceptive practices, such as falsely passing off goods or service of another, causing confusion as to certification of goods, representing that goods are of a quality they in fact are not, and representing that a service is needed when it is not. Id. The statute also lists four exempted activities, such as the dissemination of published information and the credit terms of a transaction. TCA § 47-18-111. If a court finds that the use of an unfair or deceptive act or practice was willful or knowing, the court may award treble damages; otherwise, a successful plaintiff receives actual damages. TCA § 47-18-109. The statute of limitation under the TCPA is one year from the discovery of the alleged violation, but in no event can a plaintiff bring an action longer than five years after the date of the act that gave rise to the claim. TCA § 47-18-110. The Tennessee Supreme Court has examined the definition of "affecting trade or commerce" under the TCPA to determine the breadth of the Act. Pursell v. First Am. Nat'l Bank, 937 S.W.2d 838 (Tenn. 1996). In Pursell the Court held that an act or practice falls under the TCPA if it affects the "advertising, offering for sale, lease or rental, or distribution of any goods, services, or property, tangible or intangible, real, personal, or mixed, and other articles, commodities, or things of value wherever situated." Id. at 841. The Court rejected, however, the plaintiff's argument that every action of an entity engaged in business affects trade or commerce. Id. The Court limited the application of the TCPA by holding that the actions of an agent of a bank while repossessing collateral securing the bank's loan did not constitute acts "affecting trade or commerce" because there was no "advertising, offering for sale, lease or rental, or distribution" of goods or services. Id.