AB 167, as introduced, Hagman. Unfair competition: private enforcement actions.
Existing law defines unfair competition to include an unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice, unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising, and any false representations to the public. Existing law, as amended by Proposition 64 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, authorizes an action for relief from this prohibited conduct to be brought by the Attorney General, a district attorney, a county counsel, or a city attorney or prosecutor, or by any person who suffered an injury in fact and has lost money or property as a result of the unfair competition, and provides various remedies, including injunctive relief, restitution, and civil penalties.
This bill would define the injury in fact required for a private person to bring suit under these provisions as damages suffered by each individual plaintiff or member of a class amounting to at least $500, adjusted for inflation, as specified. The bill would also provide that it shall become effective only when submitted to, and approved by, the voters of California.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 17204 of the Business and Professions
2Code is amended to read:
Actions for Injunctions by Attorney General, District
4Attorney, County Counsel,begin insert City Attorneys,end insert andbegin delete City Attorneysend delete
5begin insert Private Persons.end insert
6begin insert (a)end insertbegin insert end insert Actions for relief pursuant to this chapter shall be
7prosecuted exclusively in a court of competent jurisdiction by the
8Attorney General or a district attorney or by a county counsel
9authorized by agreement with the district attorney in actions
10involving violation of a county ordinance, or by a city attorney of
11a city having a population in excess of 750,000, or by a city
12attorney in a city and county or, with the consent of the district
13attorney, by a city prosecutor in a city having a full-time city
14prosecutor in the name of the
people of the State of California
15upon their own complaint or upon the complaint of a board, officer,
16person, corporation, or association, or by a person who has suffered
17injury in fact and has lost money or property as a result of the
18unfair competition.
19(b) For the purposes of this section, “injury in fact” means
20damages suffered by each individual plaintiff or member of a class
21amounting to at least five hundred dollars ($500), adjusted for
22inflation pursuant to the California Consumer Price Index for All
23Urban Consumers, as published by the Department of Industrial
24Relations, Division of Labor Statistics and Research, or its
25successor index.
Section 1 of this act shall not become operative until
27approved by the voters. The Secretary of State is hereby directed
28to place those provisions on the ballot of the next statewide election
29for approval by the voters in accordance with applicable provisions
30of law.
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