Ellis & Winters Launches Unfair-Trade-Practices Blog

Ellis & Winters

Ellis & Winters LLP has launched “What’s Fair? A Blog on the Law of Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices.” The blog discusses an important and unclear area of the law: the North Carolina law that awards triple damages for a largely undefined category of conduct: “unfair and deceptive acts and practices.” 

“The ban on unfair trade practices is an unsettled and controversial area of the law,” said Matt Sawchak, a partner in Ellis & Winters and the chief editor of the blog. “Although legislatures passed these laws to make it easier for consumers to recover for frauds with small stakes, the law has migrated far from that goal. Businesses and lawyers will benefit from studying and debating the law in this area. Our blog will be a forum for that study and debate.”

The blog will include new posts on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. The blog will also include occasional further posts to report on time-sensitive developments.

Matt Sawchak is the chief editor of the blog.  Stephen Feldman and George Sanderson, partners in Ellis & Winters, are joining as editors of the blog.  Sawchak, Feldman, and Sanderson have active practices in complex business litigation and appeals.

Ellis & Winters has deep experience in litigation over allegedly unfair or deceptive trade practices. In the 2014 edition of Benchmark Litigation, a referee says that Matt Sawchak “know[s] more about deceptive trade practices than anyone I’ve ever seen. I witnessed him at work on one of these cases and it was an eye-opener.”

The firm also serves the courts and the bar through scholarship on unfair and deceptive trade practices. Matt Sawchak has written or co-authored two North Carolina Law Review articles in this area. In addition, Matt Sawchak, Stephen Feldman, George Sanderson, and other Ellis & Winters lawyers often speak to lawyers, judges, and professors on unfair and deceptive trade practices and other business torts.