DTPA Laundry List: Claims, Recovery, Notice, and Deadlines

The DTPA laundry list is the set of 34 specific business practices that Section 17.46(b) of the Texas Business and Commerce Code automatically treats as deceptive.¹ If a business did one of the things on the list and it cost you money, you do not have to prove the business meant to mislead anyone. The conduct itself is the violation. A winning claim comes down to three elements: you were a consumer, the business committed a listed act, and that act caused your economic harm.

Who Can Bring a Laundry List Claim

The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, enacted in 1973, defines a “consumer” as any individual, partnership, corporation, or government entity that seeks or acquires goods or services by purchase or lease.² You don’t have to have completed the purchase. Shopping for a product or requesting a quote is enough, because the statute covers anyone who “seeks” goods or services.

One class is locked out: business consumers with assets of $25 million or more, or those owned or controlled by an entity that size, cannot bring DTPA claims.² The act was written for ordinary people and small businesses.

What’s on the Laundry List

The 34 items cluster into a handful of recognizable categories. Any one of them, on its own, is enough to support a claim.

Misrepresenting Who Made a Product or Where It Came From

The opening items on the list target businesses that lie about identity and origin. Passing off your goods as another company’s, or creating confusion about whether a product carries a particular sponsorship or certification, is prohibited.¹ Geographic origin claims get their own prohibition. Labeling produce as “Texas-grown” when it was sourced from another state, or branding furniture as Italian-made when it was manufactured domestically, creates liability.

False Claims About Quality, Ingredients, or Condition

A seller cannot claim a product has ingredients, benefits, or qualities that it doesn’t actually have. A supplement marketed as containing high-grade ingredients that lab testing would disprove, or a roofing company claiming its shingles carry a wind rating they don’t have, fits here.¹ The same rule covers shipping fewer items than the buyer paid for.

Describing goods as a particular standard, quality, or grade when they fall short is a separate item. A contractor who promises “commercial-grade” flooring but installs a residential product has committed a per se deceptive act.

Selling used goods as new gets its own provision. Marketing items as original or new when they are reconditioned, used, or significantly deteriorated is prohibited. This comes up most often with vehicles and electronics, where the gap between new and refurbished can be thousands of dollars.

Advertising and Pricing Tactics

Several classic sales tricks appear on the list. Bait-and-switch advertising, where a merchant promotes a product with no real intention of selling it at the advertised price, is explicitly prohibited. A related item makes it unlawful to advertise goods without intending to stock enough to meet reasonable public demand, unless the ad discloses a quantity limitation.¹ The “while supplies last” line on an ad is doing legal work, not just marketing work.

Fake price reductions also violate the act. False statements about why a price was reduced, whether a discount actually exists, or how large the savings are all qualify. The classic version is a store inflating a price tag right before a “sale.” If you can show the “original” price was fabricated, you have a claim.

Other advertising-related items include falsely claiming a business is going out of business to drive urgency, chain referral sales plans that promise compensation for recruiting future customers, and pyramid promotional schemes.

Warranties, Repairs, and Things Left Unsaid

A business cannot claim that a warranty or guarantee provides rights or remedies it doesn’t include.¹ If a salesperson verbally promises a lifetime replacement guarantee but the written warranty caps coverage at 90 days, that gap creates a violation. A separate item bars bundling repair charges and warranty charges into one line without breaking them out.

The repair industry gets two dedicated items. One prohibits claiming work was performed or parts were replaced when that never happened. The other makes it unlawful to falsely tell a consumer they need a repair or replacement part when the existing component works fine.³ This is where a second opinion pays for itself. An independent mechanic confirming the original part was functional is strong evidence.

One of the most powerful items covers silence rather than statements. A business violates the DTPA when it intentionally withholds information it knew at the time of the transaction, if disclosing that information would have kept the consumer from going through with the deal.¹ A home seller who knows about foundation problems and stays quiet, or a used car dealer who conceals a flood-damage history, can be liable under this item.

Other Frequently Litigated Items

Odometer tampering. Rolling back or resetting mileage on a motor vehicle is a standalone DTPA violation, separate from federal odometer fraud laws.
Misrepresenting a salesperson’s authority to negotiate final terms. If the “manager’s approval” routine is scripted rather than a real limitation, it may cross this line.
Making false or misleading factual claims about a competitor’s products or reputation.³
Filing a lawsuit to collect on a debt the business knows has already been paid.

What You Can Recover

Every prevailing consumer gets economic damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees.⁴ The attorney’s fees piece matters enormously. It makes smaller claims economically worth pursuing, because otherwise legal costs would swallow the recovery.

Damages scale up with the business’s state of mind.

Basic violation, no knowledge of wrongdoing: economic damages only, plus attorney’s fees and court costs.
Knowing violation: economic damages, mental anguish damages, and up to three times the economic damages. “Knowingly” means the business was actually aware that what it was doing was false or deceptive at the time.²
Intentional violation: economic damages, mental anguish damages, and up to three times the combined total of both. “Intentionally” adds a layer beyond knowing: the business specifically intended for the consumer to rely on the deception.⁴

The difference is real money. If you suffered $10,000 in economic damages and $5,000 in mental anguish, a knowing violation caps trebled damages at $30,000 (three times the economic portion). An intentional violation could reach $45,000 (three times the combined $15,000). Courts can also order injunctions, return of money or property, and other equitable relief.

The laundry list is one of four independent grounds for a DTPA suit under Section 17.50. The others are breach of an express or implied warranty, unconscionable conduct, and violations of the Texas Insurance Code. A single transaction can trigger more than one.

Send Notice Before You Sue

You cannot walk straight into a courthouse with a DTPA claim. Before filing suit, you must send written notice to the business at least 60 days in advance. The notice has to describe your specific complaint in reasonable detail and state the dollar amounts you’re claiming for economic damages, mental anguish, and expenses including attorney’s fees.⁵

The 60-day window gives the business a chance to inspect the goods at issue, evaluate the claim, and potentially settle before anyone pays litigation costs. During that period, the business has the right to request a reasonable inspection of the goods involved.

Skipping the notice has real consequences. If the business doesn’t receive proper notice, it can file a plea in abatement within 30 days of its initial court filing. The lawsuit then pauses automatically until 60 days after notice is finally served. There is one narrow exception: if the statute of limitations is about to expire, or if the DTPA claim is brought as a counterclaim in a suit the business filed first, the pre-suit notice is not required.⁵

How Long You Have to File

A DTPA lawsuit must be filed within two years. The clock starts on the date the deceptive act occurred, or on the date you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the deception, whichever comes later.⁶ That discovery rule matters for hidden defects and concealed fraud, where you had no way of knowing something was wrong until long after the sale.

If the business deliberately prevented you from filing on time, the deadline extends by 180 days. To qualify, you must prove the defendant knowingly engaged in conduct designed specifically to discourage or delay your lawsuit. Courts read this narrowly. Slow-walking a warranty claim probably won’t trigger the extension; the business’s conduct must have been calculated to keep you out of court.

When the DTPA Doesn’t Apply

The act does not reach every transaction or every defendant. Watch for these exclusions before assuming you have a claim.

Professional services. Claims based on services where the core offering is advice, judgment, or opinion are exempt. Doctors, lawyers, and accountants fall in this category. The exemption does not protect a professional who makes an outright factual misrepresentation, fails to disclose material information, engages in unconscionable conduct, or breaches an express warranty.³
Large transactions with independent counsel. If the deal involves more than $100,000 in total consideration, you were represented by an independent attorney you chose yourself, and the transaction does not involve your residence, the DTPA does not apply.
Transactions over $500,000. Claims arising from transactions above this threshold are generally excluded, with limited exceptions.
Media publishers. Newspaper, magazine, television, and billboard owners are not liable for running a deceptive ad unless they knew about the deception or had a direct financial interest in the sale.

Taxes on a DTPA Recovery

Winning a DTPA claim or settling one creates a tax question most consumers don’t think about until April. Under federal tax law, the general rule is that all income is taxable unless a specific provision says otherwise. The exclusion for lawsuit proceeds only applies to damages received for personal physical injuries or physical sickness.⁷ Because most DTPA claims involve economic loss from a bad transaction rather than a physical injury, the recovery is generally taxable income.

The IRS looks at what the settlement payment was intended to replace. Compensation for overpaying for a product is taxable. Trebled damages are taxable too. When a business pays $600 or more in settlement, it will typically report the payment on an IRS form, and the full gross amount, including any portion paid directly to your attorney, may be reported. Talk to a tax professional before signing a settlement agreement if the numbers are large enough to matter.

1
State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 17.46 – Deceptive Trade Practices Unlawful
2
Justia. Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 17.45 – Definitions
3
State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 17 – Deceptive Trade Practices
4
State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 17.50 – Relief for Consumers
5
State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 17.505 – Notice and Inspection
6
State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 17.565 – Limitation
7
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments