2020 Georgia Code
Title 10 - Commerce and Trade
Chapter 1 - Selling and Other Trade Practices
Article 15 - Deceptive or Unfair Practices
Part 2 - Fair Business Practices Act
§ 10-1-396. Acts Exempt From Part

Nothing in this part shall apply to:

1. Actions or transactions specifically authorized under laws administered by or rules and regulations promulgated by any regulatory agency of this state or the United States;
2. Acts done by the publisher, owner, agent, or employee of a newspaper, periodical, radio station or network, or television station or network in the publication or dissemination in print or electronically of:
   1. News or commentary; or
   2. An advertisement of or for another person, when the publisher, owner, agent, or employee did not have actual knowledge of the false, misleading, or deceptive character of the advertisement, did not prepare the advertisement, or did not have a direct financial interest in the sale or distribution of the advertised product or service.

(Ga. L. 1975, p. 376, § 6; Ga. L. 2013, p. 613, § 2/HB 150; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1088, § 2/SB 148.)

- Ga. L. 2015, p. 1088, § 2/SB 148, effective July 1, 2015, reenacted this Code section without change.

Insurance transactions are among those types of transactions which are exempt from the Fair Business Practices Act, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq. Ferguson v. United Ins. Co. of Am., 163 Ga. App. 282, 293 S.E.2d 736 (1982).

- Georgia Fair Business Practices Act, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq., does not apply to an investor's claims against brokerage firms and a broker for allegedly unauthorized trades; the alleged wrongful transactions that provide the basis for the action entail conduct that is "specifically authorized and regulated" by the Securities and Commodity Exchange Acts. Taylor v. Bear Stearns & Co., 572 F. Supp. 667 (N.D. Ga. 1983).

Area of finance charges, disclosure, and truth in lending falls outside the Fair Business Practice Act, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq., except where expressly covered. Chancellor v. Gateway Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., 233 Ga. App. 38, 502 S.E.2d 799 (1998).

- Publisher of telephone "yellow pages" was exempt from a claim under the Fair Business Practices Act, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq., because the allegedly improper acts were committed in the course of the publisher's business as the publisher of an advertising periodical. Robin v. BellSouth Adv. & Publishing Co., 221 Ga. App. 360, 471 S.E.2d 294 (1996).

- In an action in which the plaintiff consumer filed a complaint under the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act (FBPA), O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq., and the Georgia Unfair or Deceptive Practices Toward the Elderly Act, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-850 et seq., alleging that the lender deceptively and without the consumer's knowledge inflated the amount of the consumer's income on the loan application, causing the loan to be underwritten in a far greater amount and in turn making the loan payments much larger than the consumer could afford, while "settlement services" under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), 12 U.S.C. § 2602, included taking of loan applications, loan processing, and the underwriting and funding of loans, the lender failed to show that the alleged conduct was regulated by RESPA such that, under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-396(a), the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act would not apply. Kitchen v. Ameriquest Mortg. Co., F. Supp. 2d (N.D. Ga. Apr. 29, 2005).

Mortgage borrower stated a claim against a loan servicer under the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act (FBPA), O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq., based on allegations that the servicer failed to properly credit payments, sent harassing collection letters, wrongfully threatened foreclosure, and improperly reported to credit bureaus that the loan was in default. Residential mortgage transactions were not categorically excluded from the FBPA, and the unfair and deceptive conduct alleged by the borrower was not specifically authorized under another statute. Stroman v. Bank of Am. Corp., 852 F. Supp. 2d 1366 (N.D. Ga. 2012).

Homeowner's Fair Business Practices Act (FBPA), O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq., claim against the homeowner's mortgage lender arising out of foreclosure of the homeowner's home failed because the Georgia Residential Mortgage Act, O.C.G.A. § 7-1-1000 et seq., prohibited mortgage businesses from, among other things, pursuing a course of misrepresentation by use of fraudulent or unauthorized documents or other means, O.C.G.A. § 7-1-1013(1), foreclosing a claim under the FBPA, pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 10-1-396. Stewart v. SunTrust Mortg., Inc., 331 Ga. App. 635, 770 S.E.2d 892 (2015).