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Sacramento Unfair Business Practices Lawyer
Competition is a reality of the business world. Every company wants an advantage over others, and healthy rivalries can lead to innovations and new strategies that change commerce for the better. However, rivalries can be downright cutthroat, and enterprises will fight viciously for a lead. Unfortunately, this means some organizations resort to unfair business practices. If you or your business has been the victim of unfair business practices, contact an experienced Sacramento unfair business practices lawyer for a free legal consultation.
Unfair business practices can impede a corporation’s ability to make a profit or operate at full capacity. They can also put an unfair burden on consumers, forcing them to pay exorbitant prices or influencing the market in a way that encourages them to make (or not make) a certain purchase. When malicious business tactics victimize a company or its shoppers, the enterprise may obtain compensation for financial losses with the help of an experienced unfair business practices attorney in Sacramento, CA.
Types of Unfair Business Practices
A skilled legal team of Sacramento business law attorneys can determine if a company experienced unfair business practices and guide the client to a successful result. Unfair business practices come in countless forms. Some of the most common are:
- Most cases of fraud, which can include any number of misrepresentations committed against consumers or other enterprises. This can extend from intellectual property infringement and unlawful use of branding to misappropriation of company assets, falsifying or forging documents, and similar deceptions.
- Misleading, deceptive, or false advertising. Products must serve their advertised purpose or perform their claimed function in a reasonable capacity. A product’s packaging must faithfully describe what the item is meant to do or the purpose it is intended to serve.
- Price discrimination, which describes flooding different markets with similar products of the same origin. This may include selling the same product at different prices, depending on the customer or group of customers making purchases.
- Price fixing, which usually involves one or more businesses conspiring to “fix” market prices at mutually attractive levels. This could also extend to dividing the market so competition is not an issue. The law calls this collusion, and it violates antitrust regulations because it eliminates the potential for healthy and fair competition—ultimately hindering consumers’ buying power.
- Monopolization of a market. US antitrust laws exist to regulate fair competition, which ultimately benefits the end consumer. Monopolies prevent shoppers from accessing an acceptable range of options for purchases.
- Flooding a market with products to force competitors to lower their prices is widely considered an unfair business practices. This tactic usually serves to hurt competitors’ profits or force them out of a market entirely.
- Price gouging is illegal, but it is still an unfortunately common occurrence. This refers to escalating prices of specific goods when a need arises, taking advantage of the sudden demand. For example (although unlikely to happen quite so obviously), a hardware store could double snow shovel and rock salt prices the week before an impending blizzard.
If any of these factors are at play in a legal dispute, unfair business practices could be a potential claim. In California, there are specific laws that prohibit unfair commercial practices. These statutes allow businesses to file lawsuits against companies using malicious or unethical industry tactics. Competent and thorough legal counsel in Sacramento can assist damaged parties through the litigation process in such situations.
The seasoned legal professionals of the Boyd Law Firm in Sacramento can assist any company or consumer in navigating an unfair business practice case. Although it can sometimes be difficult to determine exactly what will constitute or qualify as an unfair business practice, Boyd Law office in Sacramento has unfair business practice lawyers with the experience and skill required to assess any situation and obtain fair compensation for those who suffered financial loss. Contact us today for more information, and schedule your free consultation.