The Tennessee Consumer Protection Act was enacted to provide Tennessee consumers with a cumulative remedy when they suffer damages as the result of an unfair or deceptive act or practice. T.C.A 47-18-109. However, for a long time following the Act's passage, a question remained as to what exactly constitutes an "unfair" or "deceptive" act or practice. The Tennessee Court of Appeals addressed this question last year in Tucker v. Sierra Builders, 180 S.W.3d 109, 116 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2005). In Tucker, the Court reiterated that what constitutes an 'unfair' or 'deceptive' act or practice in a particular case is a question of fact. Id. at 116. However, the Court offered definitions of these two terms to be used in evaluating the facts of a TCPA case. The Court noted that “a deceptive act or practice is one that causes or tends to cause a consumer to believe what is false or that misleads or tends to mislead a consumer as to a matter of fact.” Id. Similarly, an act or practice was defined as “unfair” if it “causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers which is not reasonably avoidable by consumers themselves and not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition." Id.116-17. The Court went on to offer further definitions for terms such as “substantial injury” and “reasonably avoidable.”
Again, determining whether conduct is “unfair” or “deceptive” in a particular case will almost always be a question of fact. However, following Tucker, Tennessee Courts now have a more specific framework in which to apply these otherwise broad terms.
If after signing a real estate contract, one finds that the terms are not agreeable with either the seller or the buyer but the contract also involves a trustee, do the buyer and seller have a 72 hour right of rescission?
Lori,
An attorney would need to look at all of the facts involving this transaction in order to determine exactly what your rights and remedies are. There are also time limitations regarding your rights such as statutes of limitation that always need to be considered. Since I have not reviewed any of those facts, I am not in a position to give you any legal advice. However, you are welcome to give us a call to discuss the specific facts of your case. I would certainly encourage you to contact the attorney of your choosing to ensure that you preserve your rights.
