Enacted in 1967, the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, G.L. c. 93A (Chapter 93A)—modeled after the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) of 1914—was designed to protect consumers from unfair and misleading business practices. In that vein, Chapter 93A, like most other state consumer protection statutes, forbids “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” in the conduct of any trade or commerce affecting Massachusetts consumers. See M.G.L.A. c. 93A § 2(a) (“Unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce are hereby declared unlawful.”). Notably, unlike the FTCA, Chapter 93A provides a private right of action for anyone injured by such unfair or deceptive act or practice, and in certain situations, also provides for the recovery of attorney fees and treble damages. Given these powerful statutory remedies, and Chapter 93A’s broad statutory language, which invariably invites creative pleading and captures conduct that would otherwise fit imprecisely within common-law fraud, contract, or tort doctrines, Chapter 93A has become the most widely used statute in all of Massachusetts civil litigation.
