Creates a private right of action for unlawful price gouging for injunctive relief and recovery of actual damages or $1000 whichever is greater, or both, in addition to right of action granted to attorney general; permits the court to award a prevailing plaintiff an additional penalty of up to $5,000 for a willful or knowing violation and reasonable attorney's fees.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A120
SPONSOR: Dinowitz (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the general business law, in relation
to price gouging
PURPOSE: The purpose of this bill is to grant citizens who are
victims of illegal price gouging in times of emergency the right to
directly sue the responsible party.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: The bill inserts a new subdivision into the
existing price gouging statute (General Business Law Section 396-r)
granting a private right of action to citizens who fall victim to price
gouging in times of emergency. The bill would provide for the possibil-
ity of injunctive relief, a minimum $1,000 damage claim and a discre-
tionary additional award up to $5,000 for willful violations.
JUSTIFICATION: Presently, only the State Attorney General is
empowered to bring legal action against violators of the price gouging
statute. This bill would leave the Attorney General's powers in this
regard intact, but would also permit individual victims of price gouging
to sue the price gougers directly.
The events that occurred during the Great Ice Storm of 1998, which
affected five northern counties in New York, demonstrate the need for
this legislation. These counties were in a state of emergency, which
placed the price gouging statute in effect in those areas. Nonetheless,
reports from these northern counties indicated that, prices on every-
thing from electrical generators to hotel space to milk and batteries
increased dramatically in an attempt to take advantage of those suffer-
ing from the disaster. Indeed, hundreds of complaints of price gouging
were filed. By some accounts, prices were set at six times above normal.
For example, a $40 piece of cable was being sold for $240, C batteries
were being offered at $11 a piece and one store was charging $995 for
generators that are regularly priced at $690.
This example, along with documented instances of price gouging that have
occurred since 1993, including gouging by certain hotels after the
events of September 11, 2001, gouging by snowplow operators after a
major snowstorm in Buffalo in December 2001, and gouging that occurred
after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, demonstrate that the threat of enforce-
ment by the Attorney General is not serving as an adequate deterrent.
Other states have recognized that a private right of action is necessary
to effectively deter would-be price gougers. At least seven other states
allow private plaintiffs to bring actions against those who engage in
such activity.
Clearly, the current enforcement provisions of the price gouging statute
are insufficient. Private citizens must be empowered to seek relief on
their own from those who seek to profit unjustly from others' misfor-
tunes.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2013-2014: A.311- Ordered to Third Reading
Calendar No. 20 2011-2012: A.311- Passed Assembly 2009-2010: A.278-A -
Passed Assembly 2007-2008: A.223 - Passed Assembly 2005-2006: A.662 -
Passed Assembly
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:; Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
120
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 7, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ, COLTON, BRINDISI, MILLER -- Multi-Spon-
sored by -- M. of A. BRENNAN, GOTTFRIED -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to price gouging
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 396-r of the general business law is amended by
2 adding a new subdivision 5 to read as follows:
3 5. In addition to any right of action granted to the attorney general
4 pursuant to this section, any person who has been injured by reason of
5 any violation of this section may bring an action in his or her own name
6 to enjoin such unlawful act or practice, an action to recover his or her
7 actual damages or one thousand dollars, whichever is greater, or both
8 such actions. The court may, in its discretion, award the prevailing
9 plaintiff in such action an additional award not to exceed five thousand
10 dollars, if the court finds the defendant willfully violated the
11 provisions of this section. The court may award reasonable attorneys'
12 fees to a prevailing plaintiff.
13 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00700-01-5
