(a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, any lessor who fails to comply with any requirement imposed under Section 2985.8 or 2988 for which no specific relief is provided with respect to any person shall be liable to such person in an amount equal to the sum of:
(1) Any actual damages sustained by such person as a result of the failure.
(2) In the case of an individual action, 25 percent of the total amount of monthly payments under the lease except that liability under this subparagraph shall not be less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor greater than one thousand dollars ($1,000); or in the case of a class action, such amount as the court may allow, except that as to each member of the class no minimum recovery shall be applicable, and the total recovery in such action shall not be more than the lesser of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) or 1 percent of the net worth of the lessor.
(3) The costs of the action, together with a reasonable attorney’s fee as determined by the court.
(b) In determining the amount of award in any class action, the court shall consider, among other relevant factors, the amount of any actual damages sustained, the frequency and persistence of failure of compliance by the lessor, the resources of the lessor, the number of persons adversely affected, and the extent to which the lessor’s failure of compliance was intentional.
(c) A lessor shall not be liable under this section if within 15 days after discovery of an error, and prior to the institution of an action under this section or the receipt of written notice of the error, the lessor notifies the person concerned of the error and makes whatever adjustments in the appropriate account are necessary to insure that the person will not be required to pay any amount in excess of the amount that should correctly have been disclosed.
(d) A lessor may not be held liable in any action brought under this section for a violation of this chapter if the lessor shows by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to avoid any such error.
(e) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, any civil action for a violation of this chapter which may be brought against the original lessor in any lease transaction may be maintained against any subsequent assignee of the original lessor where the violation from which the alleged liability arose is apparent on the face of the instrument assigned unless the assignment is involuntary.
(f) A person may not take any action to offset any amount for which a lessor is potentially liable to such person under paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) against any amount owing to such lessor by such person, unless the amount of the lessor’s liability to such person has been determined by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction in an action to which such person was a party.
(g) No provision of this section imposing any liability shall apply to any act done or omitted in good faith conformity with any rule, regulation or interpretation of federal law, notwithstanding that after such act or omission has occurred, such rule, regulation or interpretation is amended, rescinded or determined by judicial or other authority to be invalid for any reason.
(h) The multiple failure to disclose any information required under this chapter to be disclosed in connection with a single lease transaction shall entitle the person to a single recovery under this section, but continued failure to disclose after a recovery has been granted shall give rise to rights to additional recoveries.
(i) Actions alleging a failure to disclose or otherwise comply with the requirements of this chapter shall be brought within one year of the termination of the lease contract.
(Added by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1284.)