§ 5-20-214 — Remedies - civil actions - limitations - deceptive trade practice

Colorado § 5-20-214

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 05: Consumer
• Art.: Colorado Student Loan Equity

Text

(1) In addition to any other remedies provided by this part 2 or otherwise provided
by law, whenever it is proven by a preponderance of the evidence that a creditor or
collection agency has filed with a court or provided to the private education credit
borrower information required under this part 2 that is false, the court shall award
to the private education credit borrower the greater of:

(a) Treble damages; or

(b) One thousand five hundred dollars.

(2) A private education credit borrower or cosigner who suffers damage as a
result of a violation of this part 2 may bring an action in a court of competent
jurisdiction to recover:

(a) The greater of actual damages or five hundred dollars;

(b) An order requiring the creditor or collection agency to take all actions
necessary to correct the private education loan borrower's credit report;

(c) Punitive damages;

(d) Attorney fees and court costs; and

(e) Any other relief that the court deems proper.

(2.5) A court shall not award monetary damages under both this part 2 and
article 16 of this title 5 or 15 U.S.C. sec. 1692k for violations of law arising from
specific instances of the same conduct.

(3) Notwithstanding article 80 of title 13, all actions brought under this part
2 must be commenced within six years after the date on which any violation of this
part 2 occurred, within six years after the date on which the last in a series of such
acts or practices occurred, or within six years after the plaintiff discovered, or in the
exercise of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the occurrence of a
violation of this part 2; except that the period of limitation provided in this
subsection (3) may be extended for a period of one year if the plaintiff proves that
failure to timely commence the action was caused by the defendant engaging in
conduct calculated to induce the plaintiff to refrain from or postpone the
commencement of the action.

(4) A violation of this part 2 is a deceptive trade practice as specified in
section 6-1-105. A private education creditor or collection agency that fails to
comply with any requirement imposed under this part 2 with respect to a private
education credit borrower or cosigner is liable in an amount equal to the sum of:

(a) Any actual damages sustained by the private education credit borrower
or cosigner as a result of the failure;

(b) A monetary award equal to three times the total amount the private
education creditor or collection agency collected from the private education credit
borrower or cosigner in violation of this part 2;

(c) Punitive damages as the court may allow; and

(d) In the case of any successful action by a private education credit
borrower to enforce the liability set out in this section, the costs of the action,
together with reasonable attorney fees as determined by the court.

(5) The remedies provided in this section are not the exclusive remedies
available to a private education credit borrower or cosigner.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2021: Entire part added, (SB 21-057), ch. 378, p. 2529, � 5, effective June 29. L. 2023: IP(1), IP(2), (2)(b), (4), and (5) amended, (SB 23-248), ch. 360, p. 2167, � 29, effective August 7.