By: Ashley Taylor, David Anthony, Stephen Piepgrass and Ryan Strasser

The Virginia Consumer Protection Act (VCPA), Virginia Code § 59.1-196 et seq., represents the Virginia General Assembly’s effort to enact a sweeping and potent remedial tool to protect consumers from exploitation by a business where the consumer has engaged in a “consumer transaction” with that business. Where a violation of the VCPA has occurred, the statute authorizes both consumers and the Virginia attorney general to enforce its prohibitions and to seek various forms of relief.

In recent years, the Virginia Office of the Attorney General has ramped up its VCPA enforcement efforts. In perhaps a harbinger of things to come, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring filed a complaint on March 6, 2018, under the VCPA in Commonwealth ex rel. Herring v. Future Income Payments LLC f/k/a Pensions, Annuities and Settlements LLC, in the Circuit Court for the City of Hampton. Attorney General Herring asserts a single claim in the case — that the corporate defendant violated the VCPA.