Consumer Law:
Consumer lawyers practice in the area of law that deals with transactions between customers and businesses when money or something else of value is exchanged for goods or services. In some cases, the customer and the business will have a written contract while in others, the two parties will only have a verbal agreement. It is important to understand that both written and oral contracts are binding and enforceable in certain instances. For a contract to be binding, you must have four elements: an offer, acceptance of the offer, consideration (an exchange of something of mutual value to both parties, typically money) and finally a mutual understanding of the basic obligations of the contract. Both Maine’s Uniform Commercial Code and Maine’s Unfair Trade Practices Act outline requirements and remedies for many types of buyers and sellers while other statutes exist for very specific situations such as home construction, vehicle purchases, property rentals, credit card purchases and debt collection activities.
If you believe that you have a consumer law matter, contact our office for a case review. We draft contracts, review contracts, analyze contracts to determine whether a breach has occurred and if so, analyze what the remedies and defenses may be and discuss with the client the best options for pursuing resolution. In many cases an attempt will be made to try to settle the case without resorting to litigation but if litigation is necessary, our office can assist you.