The Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act (UTPA)

The Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act (UTPA) — 5 M.R.S. § 207 (unlawful acts), private action under § 213 — is the consumer-protection overlay to the Maine Lemon Law. And the two are directly linked: a lemon-law violation is itself a UTPA violation under Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 10 § 1166.

What the UTPA adds beyond the lemon law

Element	Lemon law alone	Lemon law + UTPA
Refund / replacement	Yes	Yes
Mandatory fees (arbitration appeal)	Yes	Yes
Actual damages	Limited	Yes (§ 213)
Restitution	No	Yes
Equitable relief / injunction	No	Yes
Mandatory attorney fees	Discretionary (court)	Yes (§ 213)
Statutory treble	No	No

Actual damages, restitution, and equitable relief

Section 213 lets a person who buys or leases for personal, family, or household purposes and suffers a loss of money or property from an unlawful practice bring an action for actual damages, restitution, and other equitable relief (including an injunction). Notably, the Maine UTPA does not provide statutory treble damages or a fixed statutory floor — its leverage is restitution plus mandatory attorney fees, not a multiplier. This makes it less aggressive than Hawaii’s automatic-treble UDAP but still meaningful.

Mandatory attorney fees — with a tender limitation

If the court finds a § 207 violation, the petitioner must be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and costs (§ 213) — mandatory. But there’s an important limitation: if the judgment is not more favorable than a rejected settlement tender or offer of judgment, the claimant cannot recover fees or costs incurred after that offer. So evaluate settlement offers carefully (similar to the cure-offer mechanics in West Virginia).

The 30-day pre-suit demand

Distinctively, at least 30 days before filing a UTPA damages action, the consumer must mail or deliver a written demand for relief identifying the claimant and reasonably describing the unfair or deceptive act and the injuries. This is a mandatory prerequisite — skipping it can bar the claim.

The § 1166 lemon-law link

Maine makes the connection explicit: a violation of the Lemon Law is a violation of the UTPA (tit. 10 § 1166). So a manufacturer that fails its lemon-law duties can face UTPA liability — restitution plus mandatory fees — in addition to the refund/replacement remedy.

When the UTPA matters most

• Misrepresentation or nondisclosure — undisclosed prior damage, branded title, odometer issues.
• A lemon-law violation itself (via § 1166).
• Cases where mandatory fees and restitution strengthen leverage.

Bottom line

The Maine UTPA adds actual damages, restitution, equitable relief, and mandatory § 213 fees — and a lemon-law violation triggers it directly under § 1166. There’s no treble, and a 30-day pre-suit demand is required, but the mandatory fees make it a valuable companion to the Lemon Law and Magnuson-Moss. See UTPA damages.

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