In addition to any amount owed under a judgment rendered under Code Section 10-1-381 or 10-1-397, a delinquent party shall be responsible by operation of law for a collection fee equal to 40 percent of the amount of the judgment as if such collection fee had been included as part of the judgment. The Attorney General may contract with collection attorneys to collect all or any remaining part of such amounts due under a judgment rendered under Code Section 10-1-381 or 10-1-397. All funds collected by any such collection attorneys shall be remitted to the Attorney General for disbursement.
(Code 1981, §10-1-382, enacted by Ga. L. 1997, p. 1511, § 1; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1088, § 1/SB 148.)
The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, rewrote this Code section.
Code Commission notes.- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2015, the subsection (a) designation was deleted.
PART 2 FAIR BUSINESS PRACTICES ACT
Cross references.
- Restrictions on sale or advertising of used motor vehicles displayed or parked, § 40-2-39.1.
Law reviews.- For article explaining the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act, proposed in Georgia in 1973, see 10 Ga. St. B. J. 409 (1974). For article surveying Georgia cases dealing with commercial law from June 1977 through May 1978, see 30 Mercer L. Rev. 15 (1978). For article, "Corporate Software Piracy: Is Your Client (or Your Firm) Liable?," see 22 Ga. St. B. J. 30 (1985). For note, "Consumer Protection in Georgia: The Fair Business Practices Act of 1975," see 25 Emory L. J. 445 (1976).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
O.C.G.A. Pt. 2, Art. 15, Ch. 1, T. 10 is cumulative of other laws and is not exclusive. Pendigrass v. Edmonds, 247 Ga. 508, 277 S.E.2d 247 (1981).
Claim under Fair Business Practices Act adjudicated by dismissal of federal suit.
- When an accord and satisfaction agreed to between the parties was expressly limited to certain truth-in-lending claims under 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq. and 12 C.F.R. § 226.1 et seq. between the parties, the dismissal of the suit brought under that federal Act did not operate as an adjudication of a cause of action under the Fair Business Practices Act, since the two statutes are predicated upon different goals and remedies. Standish v. Hub Motor Co., 149 Ga. App. 365, 254 S.E.2d 416 (1979).
"Intentionally deceiving" buyer not required.
- Car dealer violated the Fair Business Practices Act, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq., when although the dealer had allegedly not "intentionally deceived" a buyer, the dealer had ample reason to know the dealer had misrepresented to the buyer the actual mileage of a car. When the dealer had purchased the vehicle, the dealer received an odometer disclosure statement, signed by the dealer's employee, indicating the vehicle had been driven in excess of 20,000 miles, but furnished the buyer with a statement showing the vehicle's mileage as 4,172 miles, and later informed the state that this mileage figure was inaccurate. Crown Ford, Inc. v. Crawford, 221 Ga. App. 881, 473 S.E.2d 554 (1996).
Cited in Lancaster v. Eberhardt, 141 Ga. App. 534, 233 S.E.2d 880 (1977); DeLoach v. Foremost Ins. Co., 147 Ga. App. 124, 248 S.E.2d 193 (1978); Colonial Lincoln-Mercury Sales, Inc. v. Molina, 152 Ga. 379, 262 S.E.2d 820 (1979); Armstrong Cork Co. v. World Carpets, Inc., 597 F.2d 496 (5th Cir. 1979); Greenbriar Dodge, Inc. v. May, 155 Ga. App. 892, 273 S.E.2d 186 (1980); Martin Luther King, Jr. Ctr. for Social Change, Inc. v. American Heritage Prods., Inc., 508 F. Supp. 854 (N.D. Ga. 1981); Remler v. Shiver, 200 Ga. App. 391, 408 S.E.2d 139 (1991).
RESEARCH REFERENCESViolation of the Truth-In-Lending Act and Regulation Z, 73 POF3d 275.
ALR.- Consumer picketing to protest products, prices, or services, 62 A.L.R.3d 227.
Scope and exceptions of state deceptive trade practice and consumer protection Acts, 85 A.L.R.3d 399.
Practices forbidden by state deceptive trade practice and consumer protection Acts, 89 A.L.R.3d 449.
Implied warranty coverage for service transactions under state consumer protection and deceptive trade statutes, 72 A.L.R.4th 282.
Coverage of leases under state consumer protection statutes, 89 A.L.R.4th 854.
What constitutes Truth in Lending Act violation which "was not intentional and resulted from bona fide error not withstanding maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any such error" within meaning of § 130(c) of Act (15 USCA § 1640(c)), 153 A.L.R. Fed. 193.