California Business and Professions Code

§ 16760

BPC § 16760 Effective Jan 1, 2002Div. 7 · Part 2 · Ch. 2 · Art. 3

Statute text

(a)(1) The Attorney General may bring a civil action in the name of the people of the State of California, as parens patriae on behalf of natural persons residing in the state, in the superior court of any county which has jurisdiction of a defendant, to secure monetary relief as provided in this section for injury sustained by those natural persons to their property by reason of any violation of this chapter. The court shall exclude from the amount of monetary relief awarded in the action any amount of monetary relief (A) which duplicates amounts which have been awarded for the same injury, or (B) which is properly allocable to (i) natural persons who have excluded their claims pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and (ii) any business entity.

(2)The court shall award the state as monetary relief three times the total damage sustained as described in paragraph (1), the interest on the total damages pursuant to Section 16761, and the costs of suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.

(3)The court may, in its discretion, award a reasonable attorney’s fee to a prevailing defendant upon a finding that the Attorney General or district attorney has acted in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons.

…

Legislative history

Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 74, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2002.