HSSK Partner David Slossberg Weighs in on Law360 CUTPA Article Celebrating its 50th Anniversary
06/22/2023HSSK partner David A. Slossberg weighed in on the recently published Law360 article “Conn. Unfair Trade Practice Act At 50: More Nimble Than Ever,” celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA), important legislation that reshaped the fundamental nature of the relationship between businesses and consumers.
David, who brings and defends claims under CUTPA and co-authors the CUTPA, Business Torts and Anti-Trust Treatise, explains in the article that CUTPA “was intentionally drafted to be open-ended for the principal purpose of broadening the causes and remedies that existed in 1973 at common law.” This provides judges with considerable power to interpret the law.
The article outlines eight principal ways the law has evolved over the past 50 years, stating that the most significant change came in 2019 when family members of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School convinced the Connecticut Supreme Court that they should be able to sue the manufacturer of the rifle used by the gunman. Previously, a plaintiff and defendant needed a commercial relationship to sue under CUTPA. David says this essentially threw that rule out the window and opened the door to the potential for a broader array of CUTPA claims.
David and Robert Langer, one of the founding authors of the CUTPA Treatise, recently presented “CUTPA at 50” at the Connecticut Bar Association Connecticut Legal Conference in Hartford, CT.