§ 59.1-196 Title
§ 59.1-197 Intent
§ 59.1-198 Definitions
§ 59.1-199 Exclusions
§ 59.1-200 (Effective until January 1, 2024) Prohibited practices
§ 59.1-200.1 Prohibited practices; foreclosure rescue
§ 59.1-201 Civil investigative orders
§ 59.1-201.1 Attorney General empowered to issue civil investigative demands
§ 59.1-202 Assurances of voluntary compliance
§ 59.1-203 Restraining prohibited acts
§ 59.1-204 Individual action for damages or penalty
§ 59.1-204.1 Tolling of limitation
§ 59.1-205 Additional relief
§ 59.1-206 Civil penalties; attorney fees
§ 59.1-207 Unintentional violations

Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 59.1 > Chapter 17 - Virginia Consumer Protection Act

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
  • Autocycle: means a three-wheeled motor vehicle that has a steering wheel and seating that does not require the operator to straddle or sit astride and is manufactured to comply with federal safety requirements for motorcycles. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
  • Business opportunity: means the sale of any products, equipment, supplies or services which are sold to an individual for the purpose of enabling such individual to start a business to be operated out of his residence, but does not include a business opportunity which is subject to the Business Opportunity Sales Act, Chapter 21 (§ 59. See Virginia Code 59.1-198
  • City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Consumer transaction: means :

    1. See Virginia Code 59.1-198

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Cure offer: means a written offer of one or more things of value, including but not limited to the payment of money, that is made by a supplier and that is delivered to a person claiming to have suffered a loss as a result of a consumer transaction or to the attorney for such person. See Virginia Code 59.1-198
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Defective drywall: means drywall, or similar building material composed of dried gypsum-based plaster, that (i) as a result of containing the same or greater levels of strontium sulfide that has been found in drywall manufactured in the People's Republic of China and imported into the United States between 2004 and 2007 is capable, when exposed to heat, humidity, or both, of releasing sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide, or other sulfur compounds into the air or (ii) has been designated by the U. See Virginia Code 59.1-198
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Dextromethorphan: means the dextrorotatory isomer of 3-methoxy-N-methylmorphinan and its salts. See Virginia Code 18.2-265.19
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Goods: means all real, personal or mixed property, tangible or intangible. See Virginia Code 59.1-198
  • in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
  • Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • license to operate a motor vehicle: shall mean any document issued under Chapter 3 of Title 46. See Virginia Code 18.2-6
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
  • Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Open-end credit: A credit agreement (typically a credit card) that allows a customer to borrow against a preapproved credit line when purchasing goods and services. The borrower is only billed for the amount that is actually borrowed plus any interest due. (Also called a charge account or revolving credit.) Source: OCC
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Person: means any natural person, corporation, trust, partnership, association and any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 59.1-198
  • Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
  • Pharmacy: means any establishment or institution from which drugs, medicines, or medicinal chemicals are dispensed or offered for sale or on which a sign is displayed bearing the words "apothecary" "druggist" "drugs" "drug store" "drug sundries" "medicine store" "pharmacist" "pharmacy" "prescriptions filled" or any similar words intended to indicate that the practice of pharmacy is being conducted pursuant to a license issued under Chapter 33 of Title 54. See Virginia Code 18.2-265.19
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
  • real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Retail distributor: means an entity licensed to conduct business in the Commonwealth that offers for sale to the public at a retail outlet any nonprescription compound, mixture, or preparation containing dextromethorphan. See Virginia Code 18.2-265.19
  • Semitrailer: means every vehicle of the trailer type so designed and used in conjunction with a motor vehicle that some part of its own weight and that of its own load rests on or is carried by another vehicle. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
  • Services: includes but shall not be limited to (i) work performed in the business or occupation of the supplier, (ii) work performed for the supplier by an agent whose charges or costs for such work are transferred by the supplier to the consumer or purchaser as an element of the consumer transaction, or (iii) the subject of an "access contract" as defined in § 59. See Virginia Code 59.1-198
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
  • Supplier: means a seller, lessor, licensor, or professional who advertises, solicits, or engages in consumer transactions, or a manufacturer, distributor, or licensor who advertises and sells, leases, or licenses goods or services to be resold, leased, or sublicensed by other persons in consumer transactions. See Virginia Code 59.1-198
  • Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
  • sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
  • Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
  • Trailer: means every vehicle without motive power designed for carrying property or passengers wholly on its own structure and for being drawn by a motor vehicle, including manufactured homes. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Truck: means every motor vehicle designed to transport property on its own structure independent of any other vehicle and having a registered gross weight in excess of 7,500 pounds. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
  • Unfinished dextromethorphan: means dextromethorphan in the form of a "bulk drug substance" as defined in § 54. See Virginia Code 18.2-265.19
  • United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
  • Vehicle: means every device in, on or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except personal delivery devices and devices moved by human power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.