Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Massachusetts

Fraudulent Intent and Unfair and Deceptive Practices

Massachusetts General Law ch 151 section 20 deals with "Payment of less than minimum fair wage ..."

The Federal Truth in Lending Law deals with practices associated with the banking industry, as they relate to customers who borrow money.

I am not sure how the two relate, but if you have a situation where someone exhibits "fraudulent intent", they do some act on purpose that fools you or some victim, causing harm. There may be many different theories to help someone injured by a company, when the action the company took is done on purpose. Contact an attorney, if the amount of money you lost was significant. You may be able to recover what you lost, plus your attorney's fees.

Violation of Truth in Lending Constitutes an Unfair and Deceptive Act

In Mass, a violation of chapter 140D, the state cognate of the federal Truth in Lending Act, constitutes an unfair and deceptive act as defined in chapter 93A of the Massachusetts General Laws. See section 34 of ch. 140D. The significance is that enhanced damages are available. Of course, statutory damages for violations of TILA are not impressive, but under TILA attorney's fees are mandatory. So if there is a violation, small or large, you should be able to find an attorney to handle your case. As the other respnding attorneywrote, "fraudulent intent" depends . . . . Fraudulent intent can mean a lot of things; it depends on the context in which it is used. Good luck.