Roquemore Skierski defends Dallas businesses with sharp counsel and tough courtroom advocacy, protecting your bottom line from formation to complex disputes.
Roquemore Skierski defends Dallas businesses with sharp counsel and tough courtroom advocacy, protecting your bottom line from formation to complex disputes.
Unmatched Local Knowledge | 100+ Years of Combined Experience | 24/7 Availability
Roquemore Skierski PLLC represents businesses and their owners in Dallas who have claims under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, commonly called the DTPA. The DTPA addresses deceptive, unlawful, and unconscionable conduct connected with the sale or lease of goods or services, including transactions that involve fraudulent inducement, nondisclosure, misleading advertising, and warranty failures.
Texas differs from other states with similar laws because the statute’s definition of a “consumer” can include certain small and midsize businesses, expanding the range of commercial disputes that can fall within a traditionally consumer-protection framework.
The DTPA includes detailed procedural requirements and statutory defenses that can affect whether a claim is pursuable and how damages may be assessed.
A DTPA claim generally requires that the plaintiff qualify as a “consumer,” meaning the party sought or acquired goods or services by purchase or lease. While other states have similar laws, Texas is unusual in defining a “consumer” to include small and midsize businesses having less than $25 million in assets.
The distinction between “goods” and “services” is also important. The statute treats “goods” broadly, and it also reaches many service relationships, including work performed in connection with the sale or repair of goods, which can place contractor and vendor disputes within the DTPA’s scope when the purchaser otherwise qualifies as a consumer.
The DTPA covers false, misleading, or deceptive acts and practices, breach of warranty, and certain unconscionable conduct. “Unconscionable” in this context generally means taking advantage of a consumer’s lack of knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity to a grossly unfair degree.
Common causes to file suit under the DTPA can include:
Because Texas extends DTPA coverage beyond individual consumers in many settings, the statute also contains exclusions aimed at larger transactions. Two exclusions appear frequently in business disputes:
The answer turns on timing more than most business owners expect. The DTPA imposes a pre-suit notice requirement: a claimant must send written notice to the defendant at least 60 days before filing suit, and the defendant has that same window to tender a written offer of settlement.
Early counsel also matters because the threshold questions are not always clear. Whether your business qualifies as a “consumer” under the statute, whether the transaction falls within one of the exclusions for large commercial contracts, and whether the conduct rises to knowing or intentional misconduct are all determinations that affect the viability of a claim.
When a transaction has gone wrong and the other party’s conduct was deceptive, misleading, or in breach of a warranty, business owners should contact an experienced Dallas DTPA attorney as soon as possible.
Roquemore Skierski PLLC handles DTPA matters in Dallas alongside related claims that frequently travel with deceptive trade practices allegations, including breach of contract, business fraud, warranty disputes, construction and real estate disputes, and statutory tie-in claims.
To discuss a potential DTPA claim or defense in Dallas, contact the DTPA attorneys at Roquemore Skierski PLLC at 972-325-6591.
While our business litigation attorneys are based in Dallas, we proudly serve clients in and around Dallas, Arlington, Denton, Fort Worth, Frisco, McKinney, and Plano. Within Dallas, we have worked with businesses in Addison, Carrollton, Cedar Hill, Coppell, DeSoto, Farmers Branch, Flower Mound, Forney, Garland, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Highland Park, Irving, Oak Cliff, Richardson, Rockwall, Rowlett, Royse City, University Park, and the surrounding area. Whether your company is facing a contract dispute, partnership conflict, or other commercial challenge, we deliver strategic counsel and strong representation across the DFW Metroplex.
