AN ACT REVISING THE PROCESS FOR THE TAKING OF REAL PROPERTY BY MUNICIPALITIES FOR REDEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

AN ACT REVISING THE PROCESS FOR THE TAKING OF REAL PROPERTY BY MUNICIPALITIES FOR REDEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

This bill tightens the process municipalities must follow when condemning land for economic development. The process requires towns, through their development agencies, to prepare plans for developing an area or individual sites, submit the plans to their legislative bodies for approval, and compensate owners when the agencies take their properties.

The bill requires each plan to state how a proposed project benefits the public, to back those findings with information and analyses, and identify the properties slated for condemnation. It allows all property owners in the project area to appeal those findings to Superior Court where the town must back up its claims based on the evidence in the record. It requires the agency's governing board or the town's legislative body to approve the condemnations by a two-thirds vote. The plan must be reviewed and renewed every 10 years.

The bill allows people who own and occupy the properties the town plans to condemn to appeal this action to Superior Court. In doing so, it puts the burden of proof on the town to show that it cannot implement the plan without condemning the property. It allows the owners of condemned property to appeal the agency's offer of compensation to a tax judge and subjects them to the statutory procedure for settling a case.

The bill requires towns to compensate the owners of the condemned properties based on their fair market value. A town must compensate someone who owns and occupies his residence or business property at 125% of its fair market value and all other owners at 100% of that value. It must also compensate business owners for the unique value of doing business at their current location. The bill increases the relocation benefits state and local agencies must pay when they displace people from their homes, businesses, and farms.

The bill gives towns up to 10 years to complete a condemnation. A town must offer a condemned property for sale back to the original owner if it does not intend to use it as the plan requires or for another public use. The town must do this before offering the property for sale to anyone else.

Many of the changes the bill makes to the redevelopment statutes affect the steps an agency must follow when condemning property. These changes affect condemnations under other statutes that require agencies to follow the condemnation procedure specified in the redevelopment statute.

The bill requires the state to pay the owners of condemned billboards for their business value if they cannot be relocated to a comparable site. Otherwise, the state must compensate them based on the structure's replacement costs.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage and applicable to property acquired on or after that date, except the changes affecting the offer of comprise take effect upon passage and apply to applications filed on or after that date and (1) the property rights ombudsman, (2) the preparation and adoption of municipal development plans under Chapter 132, and (3) the provisions making it an unfair trade practice for someone to falsely claim to have condemnation powers take effect upon passage.

The statute specifying municipalities' general powers include acquiring or condemning land for public purposes, including education, charity, parks and gardens, and encouraging private commercial development. The bill eliminates condemnations for private commercial development and, in doing so, allows condemnations for economic development only under a development statute.

The redevelopment statutes allow towns to acquire or condemn property under a plan to redevelop an area that is deteriorated, deteriorating, substandard, or detrimental to the community's safety, health, morals, or welfare. Under the bill, a property is deteriorated or deteriorating if:

1. it has significant unremedied building, housing, or health code violations;

2. it has a high vacancy rate or is abandoned, vacant, or unoccupied;

3. the taxes owed on the property are delinquent; or

4. it has been deemed a public nuisance under the statutes or local ordinances.

The bill requires the redevelopment plan to identify each deteriorating or deteriorated parcel and indicate why it was identified as such. The plan must also identify each parcel the redevelopment agency proposed to condemn.

The bill adds more requirements for preparing and approving a redevelopment plan. By law, the redevelopment agency must ask the town's planning commission for a written opinion about the plan before approving it. The bill requires that opinion to state whether the redevelopment plan is consistent with the town's plan of conservation and development (plan of C&D). The law requires the agency to hold a public hearing on the plan before approving it. The bill requires the agency to post a draft of the plan on its website, if it has one, at least 35 days before the hearing.

The bill requires the agency to make more findings before it can approve the plan. The current findings include a determination that the area meets the statutory criteria for designating a redevelopment area and that the plan will materially improve conditions there. Under the bill, the agency must also find that the plan is consistent with the town's plan of C&D.

1. public benefits resulting from the project outweigh the private ones,

2. existing land uses cannot be feasibly integrated in the project's overall plan,

3. condemnations are reasonably necessary to successfully achieve the plan's objectives, and

4. plan will produce public benefits beyond its effects on local tax revenues.

After the agency's governing board approves the plan, the bill requires it to publish a newspaper notice to that effect. The approval is good for 10 years, after which the agency must review the plan at least once every 10 years. If the agency chooses to readopt or amend the plan, it must follow the procedures for adopting one.

The bill allows all property owners in the redevelopment area to appeal the plan's findings about the project's public benefits to Superior Court. An owner must bring the appeal by service of process no later than 15 days after the agency publishes the notice of the plan's approval. The appeal must be returned to the court in the same manner and within the same time period for civil actions. The burden of proof is on the agency, which must prove that its record contains enough evidence to reasonably support the plan's findings.

If the agency cannot satisfy the burden of proof, the court must order it to wholly or partly revise, modify, or remand the findings based on evidence in the record.

The bill imposes deadlines for completing the planned condemnations. The agency has five years from when it approved the plan to do so. It can extend the deadline for an additional five years but cannot condemn property after 10 years.

The bill drops the requirement that the legislative body must approve the condemnations and specify the deadline by which the agency must complete the condemnation.

The bill creates a separate process the agency must follow when condemning owner-occupied property. The agency must find that it cannot implement the plan without condemning the property. In doing so, it must give the owner all the data it collected in making the finding. It must hold a public hearing on the condemnation, which must be noticed in a newspaper serving the town not more than 10 days before the hearing. It must also mail hearing notices to the owners of the properties slated for condemnation and those who own property within 100 feet of these properties. It must send the notice by first class mail.

The agency may not condemn any property unless at least a two-thirds of its governing board votes to do so. The board can approve each condemnation separately or in groups. In both cases, the condemned properties must be identified when the board votes on the condemnations. The agency must publish a notice of each approved condemnation in a newspaper serving the town within 10 days after the decision.

The bill allows owner-occupants to appeal the condemnation to Superior Court. Those that do so must start the appeal by service of process within 15 days after the agency publishes the notice of the condemnation's approval. The appeal must be returned to the court in the manner and time period required for civil actions.

The burden of proof in the appeal falls on the agency, which must prove by clear and convincing evidence that it cannot implement the plan without condemning the property and that this action is consistent with the plan's findings about the project's public benefits. The agency must prove this based on evidence in the record. If the agency fails this test, the court must order the agency to reverse its decision.

The bill requires the agency to itemize the value of the property and any structures and improvements on it and record this information with the certificate of taking.

By law, the Superior Court clerk files this certificate after the agency files a statement specifying the compensation it offered for taking the property (i. e. , statement of compensation). The agency must file the statement with the clerk, record it on the land records, and notify the property's owners. When the agency later files a return of notice with the court, the clerk must file a certificate of taking.

The plan must indicate how the acquired property will be used. If the agency acquires a property under the plan and subsequently decides that it cannot be used as the plan intended or for other public uses, the bill establishes a right of first refusal if the agency plans to offer the property for sale. It does so by providing a way for the town to notify the original owner, his agent, or designated heirs that it wants to sell the property and specifying a deadline by which these parties must notify the town about whether they want to buy it back.

Under the bill, when the agency takes the property, it must give the owner a form to specify his address, the name and address of an agent, and the names and addresses of those heirs designated to purchase the property. The owner or agent can update the form in writing.

The town must mail the form to the listed parties only if it was properly completed and updated and provides the information needed for mailing. In notifying the parties about the property, the town must offer it for sale at a price that is no greater than the amount in the recorded finding minus (1) the value of any structures or improvements removed from the property, (2) the value of any improvements the agency made to it, and (3) the amount by which the property depreciated.

The town must give the parties six months to notify it if they want to purchase the property and another six months to finalize the sale. It may sell the property to a third party if the parties failed to notify the town within six months after the town sent the notice.

The bill specifies how the agency must compensate the owners of condemned property. It requires the compensation to be based on two independent appraisals, the reasonable costs of which must be paid by the agency. The appraisals must be conducted by a state-certified appraiser according to specified industry standards. The appraisers must work independently of each other. The owner and the agency each select an appraiser. Each appraiser must provide a copy of the appraisal to the agency and the owner.

The property rights ombudsman must choose the appraisal that is closest to the property's fair market value, and that appraisal must be used to determine the amount of compensation. The fair market value must be reduced by reasonably foreseeable environmental clean-up costs and increased by reasonable attorney fees and costs.

The level of compensation depends on whether the owner occupies the property. The compensation must equal 125% of the adjusted fair market value for owner-occupied residential and commercial property that complies with all building and housing codes. Otherwise, the compensation must equal 100% of that value. In both cases, the agency must increase the compensation if it acquires the property more than five years after it adopted the initial plan. It must increase the amount by 5% per year until the 10^th year.

Active business owners occupying a condemned property qualify for the loss of goodwill, which reflects the benefits a business derives from its unique location. A business suffers this loss if the property rights ombudsman determines that the business cannot successfully transfer its good will to another location. In these cases, the compensation must equal 100% of the property's fair market value as adjusted for the loss of goodwill. The ombudsman must determine that adjustment. The owner may appeal the adjustment to Superior Court.

The bill does not change the steps the agency must follow when filing the statement of compensation, but increases the time required to complete certain steps. Current law requires the agency to wait 12 days from after it filed the statement of compensation before it can actually take the property. The bill increases the waiting period to 35 days and makes conforming technical changes. The maximum period between filing the statement and taking the property remains 90 days.

By law, a property owner can ask the Superior Court to review the redevelopment agency's statement of compensation. Current law allows the court to appoint a judge trial referee to review the statement. The bill requires the consent of the parties or their attorneys before the court may appoint a judge trial referee (a judge over the retirement age of 70 who continues to serve and is designated to hear cases).

The bill also allows both parties to have the appeal referred to a judge appointed to hear tax appeals. The court must refer the case if each party or their attorneys makes a motion requesting it. By law, the chief court administrator appoints two Superior Court judges to hear tax appeals.

The bill also makes the property owner (i. e. , the applicant) the counterclaim plaintiff for application, review, appeal, and offers of compromise.

The law allows towns to acquire, improve, and transfer property for developing business and industry (i. e. , economic development). A town must first designate a “project area” and prepare a plan to develop it. Its development agency may implement the plan by purchasing property or, with the legislative body's approval, condemning it.

The bill expands the kind of information and analyses the agency must provide in the plan. It requires the plan to meet an identified public need and describe the process the agency used to prepare the plan and the alternative approaches it considered to achieve the plan's objectives. It must include a preliminary statement about how the agency will acquire each parcel, including findings that:

1. public benefits resulting from the project outweigh the private ones,

2. existing land uses cannot be feasibly integrated in the project's overall plan,

3. condemnations are reasonably necessary to successfully achieve the plan's objectives, and

4. the plan will produce public benefits beyond its effects on local tax revenues.

By law, the plan must describe the number of jobs and housing units the project will create. The bill also requires the plan to describe the other ways it will benefit the public. It must estimate the amount of local tax revenue the project will generate and generally describe:

1. the infrastructure improvements, including public access facilities, or uses;

2. how it will clean up blight or the environment;

3. the aesthetic improvements it will generate; and

4. how the project will increase or sustain land market values, help the town's residents improve their standard of living, and help maintain or enhance the town's competitiveness.

By law, the plan must include a finding that it is consistent with the local and regional land use plans and does not undermine any statewide planning goals and objectives. Under the bill, the plan must include a statement that the agency gave the State Plan of Conservation and Development due consideration when it prepared its development plan.

The bill requires the agency to publish a newspaper notice about the plan's approval. The approval is good for 10 years, after which the agency must review the plan at least once every 10 years. If the agency chooses to readopt or amend the plan, it must follow the procedures for adopting a plan.

The law requires the agency to hold a public hearing on the plan before approving it. The bill requires the agency to post a draft of the plan on its website, if it has one, at least 35 days before the hearing.

The bill allows property owners in the project area to appeal the plan's findings about the properties the agency plans to acquire to Superior Court. An owner must bring the appeal by service of process no later than 15 days after the agency published the notice of the plan's approval. The appeal must be returned to the court in the same manner and within the same time period for civil actions. The burden of proof is on the agency, which must prove that the evidence in the record supports the findings being appealed. The evidence must be clear and convincing.

If the agency cannot satisfy the burden of proof, the court must order it to wholly or partly revise, modify, or remand the findings based on evidence in the record.

The bill imposes deadlines for completing the planned condemnations. The agency has five years from when it approved the plan to complete the condemnations. The legislative body can extend the deadline for an additional five years, but the agency cannot condemn property after 10 years.

The bill requires the town's legislative body to approve each proposed condemnation after holding a hearing on them. The legislative body must publish a newspaper notice of the hearing no more than 10 days before holding it. At least 10 days before the hearing, the legislative body must mail the notice by first class mail to the owners of the affected properties and those whose properties are within 100 feet of them.

The legislative body must approve the condemnations by a two-thirds vote of its members. It may approve each condemnation separately or in one or more groups. In either case, each property must be identified when the legislative body votes. The town must publish a newspaper notice of each approved condemnation no more than 10 days after the decision.

Before the legislative body can approve the condemnation of any owner-occupied property, it must decide if the agency can implement the plan without condemning the property. The agency must give the legislative body enough information so that it can determine by clear and convincing evidence if this is the case. It must give the affected property owners a copy of the information it gives to the legislative body.

The bill requires the agency to itemize the value of the property and any structures and improvements on it and record this information with the certificate of taking.

By law, the Superior Court clerk files this certificate after the agency files a statement specifying the compensation it offers for taking the property (i. e. , statement of compensation). The agency must file the statement with the clerk, record it on the land records, and notify the property's owners. When the agency later files a return of notice with the court, the clerk must file a certificate of taking.

The project plan must indicate how the acquired property will be used. In cases where the agency acquires a property under the plan and subsequently decides that it cannot be used as the plan intended or for other public uses, the bill establishes a right of first refusal. It does so by providing a way for the town to notify the original owner, an agent, or designated heirs that it wants to sell the property and specifying a deadline by which these parties must notify the town about whether they want to buy it back.

Under the bill, when the agency takes the property, it must give the owner a form on which to specify his address, the name and address of an agent, and the names and addresses of those heirs designated to purchase the property. The owner or agent can update the form in writing.

The town must mail the form to the listed parties only if it was properly completed and updated and provides the information the town needs to mail it. In notifying the parties about the property, the town must offer it for sale at a price that is no greater than the amount in the recorded finding minus (1) the value of any structures or improvements removed from the property, (2) the value of any improvements the agency made to it, and (3) the amount by which the property depreciated.

The bill allows the owner-occupants to appeal the condemnation to Superior Court. Those that do so must start the appeal by service of process within 15 days after the agency published the notice of the condemnation's approval. The appeal must be returned to the court in the same manner and time period required for civil actions.

The bill makes a conforming technical change to the provision under which the agency may abandon a municipal development plan. By law, the legislative body may abandon the plan three years after adopting it and convey any property the agency could not sell, transfer, or lease for its fair market value or fair rental value. Under current law, it may convey the property free of any restriction, obligation, or procedure the plan imposes but must otherwise conform to all state and local laws, ordinances, and regulations. The bill specifies that the agency must also comply with the bill's offer of sale requirements.

State and federal laws require municipal and state agencies to pay relocation benefits when they displace people from their homes, farms, and businesses. The benefits under federal law tend to be greater, and agencies must pay these when acquiring or condemning property with federal funds.

The law requires agencies to cover the costs of moving to a new property. These costs include actual reasonable moving expenses; personal property lost during the move; and, for business and farm owners, the cost of finding a new location. The bill requires agencies to pay the higher of the benefits required under the state or federal Uniform Relocation Assistance Acts.

It also requires that moving expenses paid to a displaced business be adjusted, up or down, to reflect any decrease or increase in “good will. ” The agency must separately calculate the increase or decrease in good will. Under the bill, good will is the benefits that accrue to a business from its unique location.

Current law requires agencies to pay up to $ 15,000 to anyone displaced from a home he owned and occupied for at least 180 days before the agency began negotiating its purchase. The bill requires agencies to pay the higher of the benefits required under the state or federal Uniform Relocation Assistance Acts.

Current law requires agencies to pay benefits to tenants who occupied their units at least 90 days before the agency began negotiating their purchase. They must provide up to $ 4,000 in benefits for finding a new rental or putting a down payment on a home. The bill requires agencies to pay the higher of the benefits required under the state or federal Uniform Relocation Assistance Acts.

The bill imposes mostly the same requirements on plans prepared under Chapter 588l, which also allows towns to acquire and develop property for economic development. It requires such a plan to meet an identified public need and describe the process the agency used to prepare it and the alternative approaches it considered to achieve the plan's objectives.

The bill requires that the plan include a preliminary statement about how the agency will acquire the each parcel. The statement must include findings that:

1. the project's public benefits will outweigh any private benefits;

2. existing use of the property cannot be feasibly integrated into the overall plan for the project;

3. acquisition by eminent domain is reasonably necessary to successfully achieve the plan's objectives; and

4. the project will have public benefits that do not include consideration of the project's effect on local tax revenues.

By law, the plan must describe the project's economic benefits, including the number of jobs and housing units to be created, and its estimated property tax benefits. The bill instead calls this a description of public benefit and additionally requires a general description of:

1. the infrastructure improvements, including public access, facilities, or use;

2. how it will clean up blight or the environment;

3. the aesthetic improvements it would generate;

4. how the project will help increase or sustain land market values, help the town's residents improve their standard of living, and maintain or enhance the town's competitiveness.

Under current law, the project plan cannot be inimical to any statewide plans. The bill instead requires the project plan to be prepared with due consideration of the State Plan of Conservation and Development and other statewide plans. As under current law, the bill waives this requirement if the project involves no state funds.

The bill requires the implementing agency to post the draft plan on its website (if it has one) at least 35 days before holding the required hearing on the plan.

It requires that the agency publish a notice of the plan's approval by the legislative body and the Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner in a newspaper serving the municipality. The plan is effective for five years after the date of adoption. Thereafter, the agency must review it at least once every five years and may adopt it again or amend it in accordance with the bill.

Under the bill, any property identified in the plan as property to be acquired by eminent domain must be acquired within five years after the legislative body and the commissioner approved the initial plan, unless the municipality's legislative body approves an extension. An extension must be for a period of five years. No property may be acquired more than 10 years after adoption of the initial plan.

Any owner of property located in the project area may appeal the agency's preliminary findings to the Superior Court. The appeal must be started by service of process within 15 days from the date that notice of the plan's approval was published. In this appeal, the agency has the burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence and based upon the evidence in the record compiled by the agency, that the findings in the plan and the reasons cited for them are supported by sufficient evidence in the record. If the implementing agency does not satisfy this burden of proof, the court must order it to wholly or partly revise, modify, or remand the findings from which the appeal was taken in a manner consistent with the evidence in the record.

By law, after adopting the plan, the implementing agency must submit it to the municipality's legislative body for approval.

Under the bill, before the legislative body approves any acquisition by condemnation, it must hold a public hearing. No more than 10 days before the hearing date the municipality must publish a notice of the time, place, and subject of the hearing in a newspaper serving the municipality. At least 10 days before the hearing, the legislative body must send, by first class mail, this information to the owners of record of the real property and to all owners of real property within 100 feet of the real property to be acquired by condemnation

The bill bars the legislative body from approving the agency's use of condemnation unless it has:

1. considered the benefits to the public and any private entity that will result from the municipal development project and determined that the public benefits outweigh any private benefits,

2. determined that the current use of the property cannot be feasibly integrated into the overall development plan, and

3. determined acquiring the property by condemnation is reasonably necessary to successfully achieve the objectives of the development plan.

In addition, no owner-occupied property may be acquired by eminent domain unless the agency submits information to the legislative body sufficient for it to determine by clear and convincing evidence that the redevelopment plan cannot be implemented without using eminent domain. This information must include surveys, engineering studies, architectural drawing, and planning reports. The implementing agency must give the property owner a copy of all of the information submitted to the legislative body.

The bill requires a two-thirds vote of the legislative body to acquire any parcel by condemnation. The approval can be by (1) a separate vote on each parcel of real property to be acquired or (2) a vote on one or more groups of such parcels, provided each parcel is identified for the purposes of a vote on a group of parcels. The municipality must publish notice of any approved acquisition in a newspaper having a substantial circulation in the municipality within 10 days after such approval.

The implementing agency may then condemn, in the name of the municipality, any property necessary or appropriate for the project as identified in the development plan, following the procedures that apply to redevelopment agencies. The property can include any real property and interests in land for rights-of-way and other easements to and from the project area.

The bill imposes deadlines for completing the planned condemnations. The agency has five years from when the plan was approved to complete the condemnations. The legislative body can extend the deadline for an additional five years, but the agency cannot condemn property after 10 years.

For takings on and after the bill's passage date, when a certificate of taking is filed for property acquired by eminent domain, the agency must record with it separate findings that itemize the value of the real property and any structures or improvements on it.

The bill allows the owner-occupant of property acquired by eminent domain to appeal the agency's decision to the Superior Court. The appeal must be commenced by service of process within 15 days from the date that the agency's published its notice of the approved acquisition under the laws governing redevelopment agencies. In this appeal, the agency has the burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence based upon the record it compiled, that acquisition of the property is consistent with the preliminary findings statement. If the agency does not satisfy the burden of proof, the court must order it to reverse its decision.

If property acquired on or after the bill's passage date is not used for the purpose for which it was acquired or for some other public use and is subsequently offered for sale, the property must be first offered for sale to the person from whom the real property was acquired, or his heirs or agent. The municipality must provide a form to anyone whose property is acquired to permit him to provide an address to send notice of sale, or to provide the name and address of an agent to receive such notice. The form must be designed to permit the person to designate heirs who are eligible to purchase the property. The person or agent must update information in the form in writing. If the person or agent does not provide or update the information in the form in a manner that permits the municipality to send notice of sale, notice is not required.

The municipality must offer the property for a price up to the amount of compensation paid for it, after any appeal or settlement, less (1) the value as set forth in the agency's findings, of any structures or improvements removed from the real property by the agency or its designee after the property was acquired; (2) the value of any improvements the agency made to the property; and (3) the amount of any depreciation. After the municipality provides notice to the owner, agent, or heirs, it may not sell the property to a third party unless it has permitted the person or heirs six months to exercise their right to purchase the property, and an additional six months to finalize the purchase if the person or heir provided the municipality with notice of intent to purchase the property within the initial six-month period.

The bill expands the duties of the Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman to include selecting which appraisal will be used to determine and quantify the amount of compensation to property owners for property acquired by eminent domain under the redevelopment statutes.

The bill makes a property owner who applies to the Superior Court for review of a statement of compensation under the redevelopment statutes the counterclaim plaintiff for purposes of offers of compromise, which is a statutory procedure to offer to settle the case for a specified amount.

Under the offer of compromise law, a plaintiff can file an offer with the court after 180 days have passed since service of process on the defendant and up to 30 days before trial. A defendant has 30 days to file an acceptance of the offer with the court clerk. If the defendant accepts, the plaintiff, after receiving the amount specified in the offer, files a withdrawal of the lawsuit, which the clerk records.

Under the current law which applies to contract and money damage cases, if the defendant does not accept the offer and, after a trial, the plaintiff recovers an amount equal to or greater than the sum stated in the offer, the court adds 8% annual interest on the amount recovered. For eminent domain cases under the redevelopment procedures, the bill requires the court to add 8% interest on the amount specified in the plaintiff's offer.

Because other statutes authorizing the use of eminent domain require using the redevelopment procedures, these changes also apply to those takings.

The bill makes it an unfair trade practice for a person negotiating to acquire rental or real property to represent in the negotiation that he has the power to acquire the property by eminent domain when he does not. The bill specifies that this does not apply to a town's chief executive official.

By law, the Department of Transportation (DOT) commissioner can take land and other property in connection with highway projects. The title to the property vests in the state immediately once DOT notifies the property owner of the proposed compensation, files this offer with the court, and files the certificate of taking on the land records. All acquisitions costing more than $ 5,000 require State Property Review Board approval.

Under the bill, whenever the DOT commissioner proposes to take an outdoor advertising structure, he must notify the board, which must acquire the structure on his behalf. The bill thus appears to grant eminent domain powers. The board must follow same procedures as DOT.

Under the bill, the board must determine the amount of compensation to the owners of the structure. If the structure can be relocated, compensation must be based on its replacement costs. If it cannot be located, compensation must include an amount equal to its business value. Generally speaking, business value is the price at which a willing seller would sell a specific business interest and a willing buyer would pay when neither is compelled to sell or buy and both have reasonable knowledge of relevant circumstances.

The law prohibits businesses from engaging in unfair and deceptive acts or practices. CUTPA allows the consumer protection commissioner to issue regulations defining what constitutes an unfair trade practice, investigate complaints, issue cease and desist orders, order restitution in cases involving less than $ 5,000, enter into consent agreements, ask the attorney general to seek injunctive relief, and accept voluntary statements of compliance. The act also allows individuals to sue. Courts may issue restraining orders; award actual and punitive damages, costs, and reasonable attorneys fees; and impose civil penalties of up to $ 5,000 for willful violations and $ 25,000 for violation of a restraining order.

Yea

Nay

(03/23/2007)