§ 5-337 — Agreements requiring contractees to waive their rights in relation to expressing certain opinions about contractors void and unenforceable

§ 5-337. Agreements requiring contractees to waive their rights in\nrelation to expressing certain opinions about contractors void and\nunenforceable. 1. (a) A contract or proposed contract for the sale or\nlease of consumer goods or services may not include a provision waiving\nthe consumer's right to make any statement regarding the seller or\nlessor or its employees or agents, or concerning the goods or services.\n (b) It shall be unlawful to threaten or to seek to enforce a provision\nmade unlawful under this section, or to otherwise penalize a consumer\nfor making any statement protected under this section.\n 2. Any waiver of the provisions of this section is contrary to public\npolicy, and is void and unenforceable.\n 3. Any person or entity that violates this section shall be subject to\na civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars for the\nfirst violation, and five thousand dollars for the second and for each\nsubsequent violation, to be assessed and collected in a civil action\nbrought by the consumer or by the attorney general. In addition, for a\nwillful or intentional violation of this section, a consumer or the\nattorney general may recover a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand\ndollars. Under this section, when the civil action is brought by the\nconsumer, the civil penalty shall be payable to the consumer and when\nthe civil action is brought by the attorney general, such civil penalty\nshall be payable to the state.\n 4. The penalty provided by this section is not an exclusive remedy,\nand does not affect any other relief or remedy provided by law. This\nsection shall not be construed to prohibit or limit a person or business\nthat hosts online consumer reviews or comments from removing a statement\nthat is otherwise lawful to remove.\n