Law / United States / 
Louisiana
Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, private right of action for a breach-notice violation
In force since .
An enforcement supervision rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Breach notice
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Expect a violation of Louisiana's breach notification duty to be actionable by any affected Louisiana resident who suffers an ascertainable loss, for actual damages (trebled if knowing, after Attorney General notice) plus attorney fees and costs.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text. Also read by: Cheramie Services, Inc. v. Shell Deepwater Production, Inc., No. 2009-C-1633 (La. ) (recorded ).
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Statutory damages
No fixed per-person figure: the court awards actual damages, trebled to three times the actual damages sustained if the unfair or deceptive practice was used knowingly after the Attorney General gave notice, plus reasonable attorney fees and costs to the prevailing plaintiff. The action may be brought only individually, never in a representative or class capacity, and is subject to a one-year liberative prescription running from the transaction or act that gave rise to the right of action.
- As of
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Private civil action only under this Section; the plaintiff's attorney must mail a copy of the petition and any judgment or decree to the Attorney General, whose prior notice of the practice is also the trigger for treble damages, but the Attorney General does not independently prosecute a claim under this Section. Separate injunctive authority against the underlying unfair or deceptive practice sits with the Attorney General at R.S. 51:1407 and 1408.
Settledness
The Louisiana Supreme Court decision construes the private action in R.S. 51:1409(A) generally, holding that it is not limited to business competitors and consumers; it does not decide a claim for a breach-notice violation.
- As of
- Case link
- https://www.lasc.org/opinions/2010/09C1633.opn.pdf
- Case citation
- Cheramie Services, Inc. v. Shell Deepwater Production, Inc., No. 2009-C-1633 (La. )
- Open questions
- Does a Louisiana resident whose personal information was acquired in a breach, but who has lost no money to misuse, suffer an 'ascertainable loss of money or movable property' under R.S. 51:1409(A)?
- Is a breach report that a person files with the Attorney General under R.S. 51:3074 'notice by the attorney general' that supports treble damages under R.S. 51:1409(A), or must the Attorney General itself have put the defendant on notice of the practice?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
The section gives a private action for ascertainable loss from an unfair or deceptive practice, with treble damages after notice from the Attorney General, and has the plaintiff's attorney mail the petition and any judgment to the Attorney General. It requires no record kept by the defendant and sets no audit.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
R.S. 51:1409(A) lets any person who suffers an ascertainable loss from an unfair or deceptive practice declared unlawful by R.S. 51:1405 bring an individual action for actual damages, trebled if the practice was knowingly used after Attorney General notice, plus attorney fees and costs.
Because the Database Security Breach Notification Law's own deeming clause, R.S. 51:3074(J), routes a breach-notice violation into R.S. 51:1405(A) without excluding this section, a Louisiana resident harmed by a breach-notice violation can sue directly under this provision. A breach-notice violation became actionable under this provision when Act 382 of 2018 added the deeming clause to the Database Security Breach Notification Law, effective .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app processes personal data.
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