On July 23, Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signed into law a bill amending the Consumer Fraud Act (CFA), purporting to clarify the meaning of “in connection with” a sale, lease, receipt or advertisement of merchandise. The amendment adds a new interpretive subsection to § 2513 of Title 6 of the Delaware Code stating that “in connection with” includes any unfair or deceptive conduct enumerated in § 2513(a) that occurs “before, during, or after the sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement of any merchandise.” Citing the scope of comparable unfair and deceptive acts or practices laws in other states and the FTC Act, which cover post-transaction conduct, the bill purports to address via legislation a December 2025 Delaware Supreme Court decision holding that the CFA’s use of “in connection with” confines the statute’s application to conduct “between businesses and consumers which happen before a transaction or during the transaction itself.”

In the underlying decision, the Delaware Supreme Court, in relevant part, held that the CFA does not apply to post-transaction communications. The court reversed a lower court’s finding that the statute covered such post-transaction communications and remanded the matter to an administrative hearing officer to determine which of the communications at issue occurred after the underlying transactions.