Businesses pursuing and defending unfair trade practices claims have been in a long-standing tug-of-war over the scope and reach of Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA). That scope and reach may be shifting as we speak based on developments in a case against the gun manufacturers.

In its decision in Soto v. Bushmaster International, LLC, 331 Conn. 53 (2019), the Connecticut Supreme Court may have signaled a profound evolution under CUTPA, going far beyond the specifics of that case. One Connecticut Superior Court decision recognized that in Soto, “the scope of CUTPA has been addressed in a profound way . . . .” Russo v. Thornton, 68 Conn. L. Rptr. 173, 2019 WL 2005873 (Conn. Super. Ct. April 1, 2019).