Laws relating to deceptive trade practices are provided in the Utah Code, under Title 13 (Commerce and Trade), Chapter 11a (Truth in Advertising) Section 13-11a-1 et seq.
The purpose of this Chapter is to prevent deceptive, misleading, and false advertising practices and forms in Utah. Section 13-11a-3 prohibits any person from advertising goods or services without the intention to sell them as advertised and such acts or practices are held unlawful. Any person or the state can maintain an action against any violator of the provisions of this Chapter to recover actual damages under Section 13-11a-4. If the court finds that a person is violating any of the provisions of this Chapter, it shall enjoin that person from continuance of the violation, and may grant an injunctive relief, award actual damages sustained or $2000, whichever is greater. Defendant can recover reasonable attorney fees and remedies otherwise available for the same conduct under state or local law.
According to Section 41-1a-1319 and 41-1a-1310 of Title 41 (Motor Vehicles) Chapter 1a (Motor Vehicle Act), Part 13 (Offenses And Penalties), any person who disconnects, turns back, replaces, or resets or causes to be disconnected, turned back, replaced, or reset, the odometer of any motor vehicle with the intent to reduce the true number of miles or kilometers indicated on it are guilty of a third degree felony and class B misdemeanor.
Utah Code Ann. § 13-11a-3
Deceptive trade practices enumerated — Records to be kept — Defenses
(1) Deceptive trade practices occur when, in the course of a person’s business, vocation, or occupation that person:
(a) passes off goods or services as those of another;
(b) causes likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services;
(c) causes likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding as to affiliation, connection, association with, or certification by another;
(d) uses deceptive representations or designations of geographic origin in connection with goods or services;
(e) represents that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or qualities that they do not have or that a person has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, or connection that the person does not have;
(f) represents that goods are original or new if they are deteriorated, altered, reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or second-hand;
(g) represents that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are of another;
(h) disparages the goods, services, or business of another by false or misleading representation of fact;
(i) advertises goods or services or the price of goods and services with intent not to sell them as advertised;
(j) advertises goods or services with intent not to supply a reasonable expectable public demand, unless:
(i) the advertisement clearly and conspicuously discloses a limitation of quantity; or
(ii) the person issues rainchecks for the advertised goods or services;
(k) makes false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions;
(l) makes a comparison between the person’s own sale or discount price and a competitor’s nondiscounted price without clearly and conspicuously disclosing that fact;
(m) without clearly and conspicuously disclosing the date of the price assessment makes a price comparison with the goods of another based upon a price assessment performed more than seven days prior to the date of the advertisement or uses in an advertisement the results of a price assessment performed more than seven days prior to the date of the advertisement without disclosing, in a print ad, the date of the price assessment, or in a radio or television ad, the time frame of the price assessment;
(n) advertises or uses in a price assessment or comparison a price that is not that person’s own unless this fact is:
(i) clearly and conspicuously disclosed; and
(ii) the representation of the price is accurate;
(o) represents as independent an audit, accounting, price assessment, or comparison of prices of goods or services, when the audit, accounting, price assessment, or comparison is not independent.
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Utah Code Ann. § 13-11a-4
§ 13-11a-4. Jurisdiction of district courts — Injunctive relief — Damages — Attorneys’ fees — Corrective advertising — Notification required
(1) The district courts of this state have jurisdiction over any supplier as to any act or practice in this state governed by this chapter or as to any claim arising from a deceptive trade practice as defined in this chapter.
(2) (a) Any person or the state may maintain an action to enjoin a continuance of any act in violation of this chapter and, if injured by the act, for the recovery of damages. If, in such action, the court finds that the defendant is violating or has violated any of the provisions of this chapter, it shall enjoin the defendant from continuance of the violation. It is not necessary that actual damages be proven.
(b) In addition to injunctive relief, the plaintiff is entitled to recover from the defendant the amount of actual damages sustained or $ 2,000, whichever is greater.
(c) Costs shall be allowed to the prevailing party unless the court otherwise directs. The court shall award attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party.
(3) The court may order the defendant to promulgate corrective advertising by the same media and with the same distribution and frequency as the advertising found to violate this chapter.
(4) The remedies of this section are in addition to remedies otherwise available for the same conduct under state or local law.
(5) No action for injunctive relief may be brought for a violation of this chapter unless the complaining person first gives notice of the alleged violation to the prospective defendant and provides the prospective defendant an opportunity to promulgate a correction notice by the same media as the allegedly violating advertisement. If the prospective defendant does not promulgate a correction notice within ten days of receipt of the notice, the complaining person may file a lawsuit under this chapter.
Utah Code Ann. § 41-1a-1310
Class B misdemeanors
It is a class B misdemeanor for any person to:
(1) fail to properly endorse and deliver a valid certificate of title to a vehicle, vessel, or outboard motor to a transferee or owner lawfully entitled to it in accordance with Section 41-1a-702, except as provided for under Sections 41-3-301, 41-1a-519, and 41-1a-709;
(2) fail to give an odometer disclosure statement to the transferee as required by Section 41-1a-902;
(3) operate, or cause to be operated, a motor vehicle knowing that the odometer is disconnected or nonfunctional, except while moving the motor vehicle to a place of repair;
(4) offer for sale, sell, use, or install on any part of a motor vehicle or on an odometer in a motor vehicle any device that causes the odometer to register miles or kilometers other than the true miles or kilometers driven as registered by the odometer within the manufacturer’s designed tolerance;
(5) fail to adjust an odometer or affix a notice as required by Section 41-1a-906 regarding the adjustment;
(6) remove, alter, or cause to be removed or altered any notice of adjustment affixed to a motor vehicle as required by Section 41-1a-906;
(7) fail to record the odometer reading on the certificate of title at the time of transfer; or
(8) accept or give an incomplete odometer statement when an odometer statement is required under Section 41-1a-902.
Utah Code Ann. § 41-1a-1319
Third degree felony — Odometer violation
It is a third degree felony for a person, with intent to defraud, to:
(1) disconnect, turn back, replace, or reset or cause to be disconnected, turned back, replaced, or reset, the odometer of any motor vehicle with the intent to reduce the true number of miles or kilometers indicated on it;
(2) knowingly sell, transfer, or exchange, or cause to be sold, transferred, or exchanged without the disclosure required by Section 41-1a-902, any motor vehicle on which the odometer has been disconnected, turned back, replaced, or reset; or
(3) give or cause to be given a false odometer mileage disclosure statement when an odometer statement is required by Section 41-1a-902.
