The Montana Consumer Protection Act (§ 30-14-133)

The Montana Consumer Protection Act (CPA) — Mont. Code Ann. § 30-14-101 et seq., private action under § 30-14-133 — is the consumer-protection overlay to the Montana Lemon Law. It matters more than usual here: because the lemon law has no fee provision of its own, the CPA (reached via § 61-4-533) is the primary state-law fee and multiplier engine.

What the CPA adds beyond the lemon law

Element	Lemon law alone	Lemon law + CPA
Refund / replacement	Yes	Yes
Actual damages	Limited	Yes (§ 30-14-133)
Treble damages	No	Discretionary (up to 3x)
Attorney fees	None	Discretionary (capped)

Actual damages and discretionary treble

Section 30-14-133 lets a consumer who suffers an ascertainable loss of money or property recover actual damages, and the court may, in its discretion, award up to three times the actual damages. The treble multiplier carries no dollar ceiling — the $100,000 figure in the statute limits attorney fees (see below), not the treble. The court may not award punitive damages under the CPA. This is a discretionary multiplier (like Rhode Island and Idaho), weaker than New Hampshire’s mandatory 2x–3x or Hawaii’s automatic treble.

Attorney fees — discretionary, with distinctive caps

The court may award the prevailing party reasonable attorney fees (§ 30-14-133) — with two distinctive limits:

• No fees if the consumer recovers actual damages of $100,000 or more.
• Fees capped at $250 per hour.

These caps are unusual among UDAP statutes, but because the lemon law itself has no fee provision, the CPA’s discretionary fees (plus Magnuson-Moss § 2310(d)(2)) are the route to recovery.

The per se lemon-law violation

Section 61-4-533 makes a violation of the lemon law an unfair or deceptive trade practice — a per se CPA violation. So a manufacturer that fails its lemon-law duties faces CPA actual damages, a discretionary treble, and discretionary fees, on top of the refund/replacement remedy.

When the CPA matters most

• As the fee engine for a lemon-law claim (the lemon law has none).
• Misrepresentation or nondisclosure — undisclosed prior damage, branded title, odometer issues.
• Cases where a discretionary treble strengthens leverage (the fee award, not the treble, is barred above a $100,000 recovery).

Bottom line

The Montana CPA supplies what the lemon law lacks — actual damages, a discretionary treble (up to 3x), and discretionary fees (capped at $250/hour, and barred if recovery is $100,000 or more) — and a lemon-law violation triggers it per se under § 61-4-533. Pair it with Magnuson-Moss for a reliable fee basis. See CPA damages.

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