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California Business And Professions Code Section 17206

Legal Research Home > California Lawyer > Business and Professions Code > California Business And Professions Code Section 17206

Civil Penalty for Violation of Chapter
   (a) Any person who engages, has engaged, or proposes to engage in
unfair competition shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed
two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each violation, which
shall be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in the name
of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General, by
any district attorney, by any county counsel authorized by agreement
with the district attorney in actions involving violation of a
county ordinance, by any city attorney of a city having a population
in excess of 750,000, by any city attorney of any city and county,
or, with the consent of the district attorney, by a city prosecutor
in any city having a full-time city prosecutor, in any court of
competent jurisdiction.
   (b) The court shall impose a civil penalty for each violation of
this chapter. In assessing the amount of the civil penalty, the court
shall consider any one or more of the relevant circumstances
presented by any of the parties to the case, including, but not
limited to, the following: the nature and seriousness of the
misconduct, the number of violations, the persistence of the
misconduct, the length of time over which the misconduct occurred,
the willfulness of the defendant's misconduct, and the defendant's
assets, liabilities, and net worth.
   (c) If the action is brought by the Attorney General, one-half of
the penalty collected shall be paid to the treasurer of the county in
which the judgment was entered, and one-half to the General Fund. If
the action is brought by a district attorney or county counsel, the
penalty collected shall be paid to the treasurer of the county in
which the judgment was entered. Except as provided in subdivision
(e), if the action is brought by a city attorney or city prosecutor,
one-half of the penalty collected shall be paid to the treasurer of
the city in which the judgment was entered, and one-half to the
treasurer of the county in which the judgment was entered. The
aforementioned funds shall be for the exclusive use by the Attorney
General, the district attorney, the county counsel, and the city
attorney for the enforcement of consumer protection laws.
   (d) The Unfair Competition Law Fund is hereby created as a special
account within the General Fund in the State Treasury. The portion
of penalties that is payable to the General Fund or to the Treasurer
recovered by the Attorney General from an action or settlement of a
claim made by the Attorney General pursuant to this chapter or
Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 17500) of Part 3 shall be
deposited into this fund. Moneys in this fund, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, shall be used by the Attorney General to support
investigations and prosecutions of California's consumer protection
laws, including implementation of judgments obtained from such
prosecutions or investigations and other activities which are in
furtherance of this chapter or Chapter 1 (commencing with Section
17500) of Part 3.
   (e) If the action is brought at the request of a board within the
Department of Consumer Affairs or a local consumer affairs agency,
the court shall determine the reasonable expenses incurred by the
board or local agency in the investigation and prosecution of the
action.
   Before any penalty collected is paid out pursuant to subdivision
(c), the amount of any reasonable expenses incurred by the board
shall be paid to the Treasurer for deposit in the special fund of the
board described in Section 205. If the board has no such special
fund, the moneys shall be paid to the Treasurer. The amount of any
reasonable expenses incurred by a local consumer affairs agency shall
be paid to the general fund of the municipality or county that funds
the local agency.
   (f) If the action is brought by a city attorney of a city and
county, the entire amount of the penalty collected shall be paid to
the treasurer of the city and county in which the judgment was
entered for the exclusive use by the city attorney for the
enforcement of consumer protection laws. However, if the action is
brought by a city attorney of a city and county for the purposes of
civil enforcement pursuant to Section 17980 of the Health and Safety
Code or Article 3 (commencing with Section 11570) of Chapter 10 of
Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, either the penalty
collected shall be paid entirely to the treasurer of the city and
county in which the judgment was entered or, upon the request of the
city attorney, the court may order that up to one-half of the
penalty, under court supervision and approval, be paid for the
purpose of restoring, maintaining, or enhancing the premises that
were the subject of the action, and that the balance of the penalty
be paid to the treasurer of the city and county.

Last modified: January 12, 2009