FDUTPA Can Give Rise to a Claim Against a Person in an Individual Capacity

In Florida, there is a statutory claim under Florida’s Deceptive Unfair Trade Practices Act. This also goes by its acronym FDUTPA, and is referred to as a FDUTPA claim. For more information in FDUTPA, please check here.  Did you know you can assert a FDUTPA claim against a person in an individual capacity? And this has nothing to do with piercing the corporate veil?

In Thompson Nation Holdings, LLC v. Gonzalez, 50 Fla.L.Weekly D2030a (Fla. 3d DCA 2025), a customer sued her moving company’s principal, individually, under FDUTPA. A judgment was obtained against the principal, and the appellate court affirmed the judgment.  In doing so, the appellate court explained: “’[I]t has long been the law in Florida that in order to proceed against an individual using a FDUTPA violation theory[,] an aggrieved party must allege that the individual was a direct participant in the improper dealings.‘” Gonzalez, supra (citation omitted). Here, the court found the principal “was a direct participant in the dealings with the [customer-plaintiff] and could be held liable without the need to pierce the corporate veil.” Id.  Ouch!

Thus, like in Gonzalez, if the facts exist, a claim in an individual capacity can be asserted under FDUTPA without the need to pierce the corporate veil by proving the person was a direct participant in the improper dealings giving rise to the FDUTPA claim.

Please contact David Adelstein at dadelstein@gmail.com or (954) 361-4720 if you have questions or would like more information regarding this article. You can follow David Adelstein on Twitter @DavidAdelstein1.