When A Business Rips You Off
ORC 1345.09 — what a consumer may recover, and the file that trebles it
Ohio has a consumer statute with real teeth in it, and the part almost nobody uses is the part that multiplies the number by three. It covers unfair or deceptive acts and unconscionable acts in a consumer transaction, which reaches most of what a person means by being ripped off by a business.
| Route | What the section allows |
|---|---|
| Rescind | Undo the transaction |
| Damages | Actual economic damages, plus up to $5,000 in noneconomic damages |
| Trebled damages | Three times actual economic damages, or $200, whichever is greater, plus up to $5,000 noneconomic. Not available in a class action |
| Other relief | A declaratory judgment, an injunction, or other appropriate relief |
There is a clock. An action has to be brought within two years of the violation, or within one year after the attorney general's proceedings about that violation end, whichever of the two is later.
A complaint to the attorney general and a private action are different things and they do not substitute for each other. The office's proceedings are how practices get into the public inspection file in the first place, which is what later consumers rely on to treble their own damages against the same conduct.
“Is this practice already in the attorney general's public inspection file.”
Whether a particular dealing is a consumer transaction, whether a business is a supplier under the chapter, and whether a practice matches something already in the file are the questions these cases turn on, and they are for a licensed Ohio attorney. Some transactions, including many involving real estate and certain regulated professions, sit outside this chapter. Because the fee provision can run against a consumer who loses, the decision to file is not a small one. Legal aid offices across the state handle consumer cases and many private consumer attorneys work on a contingency.
Sources for this section (7)
- ORC 1345.09 — What a consumer may recover, including when damages are trebled
- ORC 1345.02 — Unfair or deceptive acts and practices in a consumer transaction
- Online Public Inspection File — Ohio Attorney General, the decisions and rules that put a supplier on notice a practice is unlawful
- ORC 1345.03 — Unconscionable acts and practices in a consumer transaction
- ORC 1345.05 — The attorney general's duties, including the file of decisions open to public inspection
- ORC 1345.10 — The two years a consumer sales practices action has to be brought in
- ORC 1345.092 — The cure offer, and what it does to a fee award
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Talk to a licensed Ohio attorney about your situation.