Elements of a Consumer Protection Act Claim and Public Interest Factors

The five elements of a private Consumer Protection Act action include:
(1) an unfair or deceptive act or practice;
(2) in the conduct of trade or commerce;
(3) which impacts the public interest;
(4) injury to the plaintiffs in their business or property; and
(5) a causal link between the unfair or deceptive act and the injury suffered.

In a consumer transaction the following inquiries are relevant to establish public interest:
(1) Were the alleged acts committed in the course of defendant's business? 
(2) Are the acts part of a pattern or generalized course of conduct? (3) Were repeated acts committed prior to the act involving plaintiff?
(4) Is there a real and substantial potential for repetition of defendant's conduct after the act involving plaintiff?
(5) If the act complained of involved a single transaction, were many consumers affected or likely to be affected by it? 
No one of these five factors is dispositive, nor is it necessary that all be present.