§ 507 — Enforcement

§ 507. Enforcement. 1. A consumer who has suffered a loss due to a\nviolation of this article by a merchant is entitled to recover from the\nmerchant actual damages, reasonable attorney's fees and court costs.\n 2. Whenever a court finds that a consumer has been injured because a\nmerchant acted in bad faith in its performance under this article, the\nmerchant shall be subject to a penalty of not less than one hundred\ndollars nor more than one thousand dollars as determined by the court.\n 3. A violation of this article is a deceptive trade practice under\nsection three hundred forty-nine of the general business law.\n 4. Whenever there shall be a violation of this article an application\nmay be made by the attorney general in the name of the people of the\nstate of New York to a court or justice having jurisdiction to issue an\ninjunction, and upon notice to the defendant of not less than five days,\nto enjoin and restrain the continuance of such violations; and if it\nshall appear to the satisfaction of the court or justice, that the\ndefendant has, in fact, violated this section an injunction may be\nissued by such court or justice enjoining and restraining any further\nviolation, without requiring proof that any person has, in fact, been\ninjured or damaged thereby. In any such proceeding, the court may make\nallowances to the attorney general as provided in paragraph six of\nsubdivision (a) of section eighty-three hundred three of the civil\npractice law and rules, and direct restitution. Whenever the court shall\ndetermine that a violation of this article has occurred, the court may\nimpose a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for each\nviolation. In connection with any such proposed application the attorney\ngeneral is authorized to take proof and make a determination of the\nrelevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil\npractice law and rules.\n 5. Nothing in this article shall be construed so as to nullify or\nimpair any right or rights which a consumer may have against a merchant\nat common law, by statute, or otherwise.\n 6. A merchant or assignee may not be held liable in an action brought\nunder this article for a violation of this article that was\nunintentional and resulted from a bona fide or clerical error\nnotwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to\navoid any such error.\n 7. An action shall not be brought under this article more than four\nyears after the occurrence of the act, method or practice which is the\nsubject of the action or more than one year after the last payment in a\ntransaction involving the method, act or practice which is the subject\nof the action, whichever is later.\n