Federal Deception Law: 9.2.2 Strategic Advantages of State RICO Laws As Compared to UDAP Statutes
State RICO laws offer an approach to fill in some of the gaps in state unfair and deceptive acts and practices (UDAP) statutes:
Private right of action. Although there is a private right of action under every state’s UDAP statute, there are gaps and exclusions in many states. Iowa, for example, precludes private UDAP claims against banks, insurance companies, and a number of other potential defendants. Many state UDAP statutes do not afford a private cause of action for non-consumer transactions. The state RICO statute may provide a cause of action in these situations.