Main Content

Abortion, Guns and Climate Change - Reading Group - Spring 2025

Week 2 – February 25, 2025 – The Unfair, Deceptive and Abusive Practices ACT (UDAP) as a Tool for Broad AG Advocacy

Every state and the District of Columbia has authorized its attorney general to enforce state consumer protection statutes in state court on behalf of their citizens who were victims of “unfair or deceptive” practices in the marketplace. While each state differs on the breadth of its coverage and the remedies available of its Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices Act (UDAP), it is a core duty of every attorney general to be involved in consumer protection. Additionally, due to the breadth of pre-suit investigatory authority using a Civil Investigative Demand (CID), AGs have powerful tools not available to most civil  litigants. AGs use their broad consumer protection authority to investigate and sue anyone in state court engaged in “unfair or deceptive” practices either in single state actions or as part of multistate coalitions.  Many AGs are now using this authority in the area of guns, abortion and climate change.