Ohio Consumer Fraud Legal Questions

I recommend filing in the county where the business is. This is because of the venue requirements in the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure which generally favor suit in the same county where the wrongful act took place. Venue is proper in:  1) The county in which the defendant resides; (2) The county in which the defendant has his or her principal place of business; (3) A county in which the defendant conducted activity that gave rise to the claim for relief; (4) A county in which a public officer maintains his or her principal office if suit is brought against the officer in the officer’s official capacity; (5) A county in which the property, or any part of the property, is situated if the subject of the action is real property or tangible personal property; (6) The county in which all or part of the claim for relief arose; or, if the claim for relief arose upon a river, other watercourse, or a road, that is the boundary of the state, or of two or more counties, in any county bordering on the river, watercourse, or road, and opposite to the place where the claim for relief arose; (7) In actions described in Civ.R. 4.3, in the county where plaintiff resides; ( 8) In an action against an executor, administrator, guardian, or trustee, in the county in which the executor, administrator, guardian, or trustee was appointed; (9) In actions for divorce, annulment, or legal separation, in the county in which the plaintiff is and has been a resident for at least ninety days immediately preceding the filing of the complaint; (10) In actions for a civil protection order, in the county in which the petitioner currently or temporarily resides; (11) In tort actions involving asbestos claims, silicosis claims, or mixed dust disease claims, only in the county in which all of the exposed plaintiffs reside, a county where all of the exposed plaintiffs were exposed to asbestos, silica, or mixed dust, or the county in which the defendant has his or her principal place of business. (12) If there is no available forum in divisions (C)(1) to (C)(10) of this rule, in the county in which plaintiff resides, has his or her principal place of business, or regularly and systematically conducts business activity; (13) If there is no available forum in divisions (C)(1) to (C)(11) of this rule: (a) In a county in which defendant has property or debts owing to the defendant subject to attachment or garnishment; (b) In a county in which defendant has appointed an agent to receive service of process or in which an agent has been appointed by operation of law. ... Read More

Because it is a used car, Ohio's lemon law does not apply. That doesn't mean you're out of luck though. It is possible that they breached Ohio's Consumer Sales Practices Act (CSPA) by misrepresenting to you the cause of the oil leak when they knew that they had patched it earlier. If that's the case, you could recover your actual damages times three plus your reasonably incurred attorney fees.    ... Read More

Call the state of California Franchise Tax board (FTB) and ask them to update the public record and show that the lien was paid.  Ask FTB to give you a letter as proof. Then dispute the entry with the credit bureaus and send letter as proof.  It takes persistence to clear credit.  So youmay have to dispute the claim more than once.  It can take 60 to 90 days.... Read More

No lawyer can help you understand what your rights are without going over your bills and your cell phone contract and that is not cost effective for you since the lawyer's time will cost you more than your dispute amount. you should go to the cell phone company's office and argue your way through this to a resolution you can live with or switch carriers. If you really feel you don't owe it, you can wait till then sue you, if they do at all, and dispute it in court.... Read More

Ohio has a specific "New for Used" law that makes it illegal for a merchant to sell anything to a consumer and represent it to be in new condition when, in fact, it is in used condition. It is called the New for Used Rule and it's in the Ohio Administrative Code at OAC 109:4-3-08. "Used" under this law includes reconditioned and refurbished and rebuilt. This is part of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, at RC 1345.01 and section .09 gives you the right to cancel the sale or recover a minimum of triple damages or $200 from the retailer. You should ask for a refund or replacement and if it doesn't work out and the cost was small enough then you may file a claim in your local small claims court. You can find these two laws online.... Read More

There's a long technical definition for fraud in Ohio but basically it's a lie that costs you money. In a private sale the seller only has to speak the truth and not hide anything that they know the buyer would want to know about because that could be fraud. Depending on the price, if you can't get the seller to work this out with you then you may want to file a claim in your local small claims court, up to $3,000.... Read More