Payments from the fund are limited as follows:
(1) Only the claimant's actual damages may be paid from the fund. No claimant may recover punitive, special, or consequential damages or attorney's fees.
(2) The fund is not liable for more than ten thousand dollars for each transaction, regardless of the number of persons aggrieved.
(3) The liability of the fund may not exceed in the aggregate twenty thousand dollars for one licensee in one calendar year.
(4) A party aggrieved and awarded payment by a final commission decision has a vested right for payment. Claims against the fund must be made in the same order as the awards were authorized. If claims against the fund exceed the monies in the fund, the commission shall satisfy unpaid claims as soon as sufficient monies are deposited. An award is not a claim against the State if it cannot be paid due to a lack of monies in the fund.
(5) Notwithstanding item (4), if the maximum liability of the fund is insufficient to pay in full the valid claims of aggrieved persons whose claims relate to the same transaction or to the same licensee, the amount for which the fund is liable must be distributed among the claimants on a pro rata basis. The commission may join in one action claims having a common factual basis so that an equitable distribution from the fund may be achieved.
HISTORY: 2000 Act No. 318, Section 1.
Editor's Note
Prior Laws:1991 Act No. 38, Section 1; 1976 Code Section 40-6-230.