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CHAPTER 36
NORTH DAKOTA
A. Scope of the Statute and Elements of a Cause of Action
North Dakota’s Consumer Fraud Act (NDCFA), also known as the
Unlawful Sales or Advertising Practices Act,1 prohibits, in pertinent part,
any “deceptive act or practice, fraud, false pretense, false promise, or
misrepresentation, with the intent that others rely thereon in connection
with the sale or advertisement of any merchandise, whether or not any
person has in fact been misled, deceived, or damaged thereby.”2 Under the
terms of the statute, the term “advertisement” includes the “attempt by
publication, dissemination, solicitation, or circulation, oral or written, to
induce, directly or indirectly, any person to enter into any obligation or
acquire any title or interest in any merchandise.”3 The term “sale” means
any “charitable solicitation or any sale, offer for sale, or attempt to sell any
merchandise for any consideration.”4 The term “person” includes, among
others, natural persons, partnerships, corporations, limited liability
companies, trusts, and business entities.5
Under the NDCFA, “[i]t is a deceptive act or practice . . . for any
person to provide assistance or support” to another person who is engaged
in any act or practice in violation of the NDCFA if “the person providing
assistance or support knows or consciously avoids knowing that the other
person is engaged” in conduct violating the statute.6 However, only the
state’s attorney general may enforce this particular provision.7
In Benz Farm v. Cavendish Farms,8 the Supreme Court of North
Dakota held that the NDCFA did not create a cause of action for a seller
against a purchaser.9 Th e cour t re je ct ed t he c la im s of a p la in ti ff t ha t alle ge d
1. N.D. CENT. CODE §§ 51-15-01 through 51-15-12.
2. Id. § 51-15-02.
3. Id. § 51-15-01(1).
4. Id. § 51-15-01(5).
5. Id. § 51-15-01(4). The term “person” has been construed by the North
Dakota Supreme Court to apply to a “farmer who purchases confection
sunflower seeds for use in cultivating a sunflower crop for subsequent sale
. . . .” Jorgenson v. Agway, Inc., 627 N.W.2d 391, 394 (N.D. 2001).
6. N.D. CENT. CODE § 51-15-02.3.
7. Id.
8. 803 N.W.2d 818 (N.D. 2011).
9. Id. at 823.
