Today, the National Consumer Law Center released an updated version of its very helpful and informative 50-state UDAP survey. The page with links to the full report, executive summary, key recommendations, maps, charts, and appendices is available here. The press release is available here.
Since the last survey, which was conducted in 2009, NCLC finds "both gains and losses for consumers, and every state has room for improvement." For example, since 2009, "Alaska, Arizona, Iowa, North Dakota, and Oregon have made significant improvements to their UDAP statutes, yet each of these states still has room for improvement. Tennessee and Ohio went in the opposite direction, weakening their UDAP statutes in significant ways. Arkansas enacted a set of amendments in 2017 that both improve its UDAP statute in some ways and weaken it in others. Michigan and Rhode Island's UDAP laws were gutted by court decisions that interpret the statute as being applicable to almost no consumer transactions. These decisions were issued over ten years ago, yet the state legislatures still have not corrected them."
This survey is a great resource for consumer attorneys and advocates working on consumer issues at the state level. Hopefully, the release of this report will spur efforts to improve state UDAP laws.