‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF NUMBER.—The toll-free
telephone number required under subsection what
shall be available beginning on the date of the
broadcast and continue until the earlier of—
‘‘(A) the end of the 10-day period begin-
ning on the day of the last broadcast; or
‘‘(B) if the offer expires before the end of
such 10-day period and the advertisement dis-
closes that the offer expires before the end of
such period, the date the offer expires.
‘‘SEC. 1012. CIVIL LIABILITY.
‘‘(a) INDIVIDUAL OR CLASS ACTION FOR DAMAGES;
AMOUNT OF AWARD; FACTORS DETERMINING AMOUNT
OF AWARD.—Except as otherwise provided in this section,
any merchant who fails to comply with any requirement
imposed by section 1004, 1005, 1006, 1007, or 1008, with
respect to any consumer is liable to such consumer in an
amount equal to the sum of—
‘‘(1) any actual damage sustained by such con-
sumer as a result of the failure;
‘‘(2)(A) in the case of an individual action, 25
percent of the rental-purchase cost under the rental-
purchase agreement, except that the liability under
this subparagraph shall not be less than $100 nor
greater than $1,000;
‘‘(B) in the case of a class action, such amount
as the court may allow, except that as to each mem-
ber of the class no minimum recovery shall be appli-
cable, and the total recovery under this subpara-
graph in any class action or series of class actions
arising out of the same failure to comply by the
same merchant shall not be more than the lesser of
$500,000 or 1 percent of the net worth of the mer-
chant; and
‘‘(3) in the case of any successful action to en-
force the foregoing liability, the costs of the action,
together with a reasonable attorney’s fee as deter-
mined by the court.
‘‘(b) FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED IN CLASS AC-
TIONS.—In determining the amount of award in any class
action, the court shall consider, among other relevant fac-
tors, the amount of any actual damages awarded, the fre-
quency and persistence of failures of compliance by the
merchant, the resources of the merchant, the number of
persons adversely affected, and the extent to which the
merchant’s failure of compliance was intentional. With re-
spect to any failure to make disclosures required under
this title, liability shall be imposed only upon the merchant
required to make disclosure, except as provided in section
1014.
‘‘(c) CORRECTION OF ERRORS.—A merchant or as-
signee has no liability under this section or section 1016
or 1017 for any failure to comply with any requirement
imposed under this title, if within 60 days after discov-
ering an error, and prior to the institution of an action
under this section or the receipt of written notice of the
error from the consumer, the merchant or assignee notifies
the consumer concerned of the error and makes whatever
adjustments in the appropriate account are necessary to
assure that the person will not be required to pay an
amount in excess of the charge actually disclosed.
‘‘(d) UNINTENTIONAL VIOLATIONS; BONA FIDE ER-
RORS.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A merchant or assignee
may not be held liable in any action brought under
this title for a violation of this title if the merchant
or assignee shows by a preponderance of evidence
that the violation was not intentional and resulted
from a bona fide error notwithstanding the mainte-
nance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any
such error.
‘‘(2) EXAMPLES OF BONA FIDE ERRORS.—Ex-
amples of a bona fide error include clerical, calcula-
tion, computer malfunction and programming, and
printing errors, except that an error of legal judg-
ment with respect to a person’s obligations under
this title is not a bona fide error.
‘‘(e) LIABILITY IN TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING MUL-
TIPLE CONSUMERS.—When there are multiple consumers
in a single rental-purchase agreement there shall be no
more than 1 recovery of damages under subsection (a)(2)
of this section for a violation of this title.
‘‘(f) JURISDICTION OF COURTS; LIMITATION OF AC-
TIONS.—Any action under this section may be brought in
any United States district court, or in any other court of
competent jurisdiction, within 1 year from the date of the
occurrence of the violation. This subsection shall not bar
a consumer from asserting a violation of this title in an
action to collect an obligation arising from a rental-pur-
chase agreement, which was brought more than 1 year
from the date of the occurrence of the violation as a mat-
ter of defense by recoupment or set-off in such action, ex-
cept as otherwise provided by State law.
‘‘(g) GOOD FAITH COMPLIANCE WITH RULE, REGU-
LATION, OR INTERPRETATION OF BOARD.—No provision
of this section or section 1016 or 1017 imposing any liabil-
ity shall apply to any act done or omitted in good faith
in conformity with any rule, regulation, or interpretation
thereof by the Board or in conformity with any interpreta-
tion or approval by an official or employee of the Board
duly authorized by the Board to issue such interpretations
or approvals under such procedures as the Board may pre-
scribe therefor, notwithstanding that after such act or
omission has occurred, such rule, regulation, interpreta-
tion, or approval is amended, rescinded, or determined by
judicial or other authority to be invalid for any reason.
‘‘(h) RECOVERY FOR MULTIPLE FAILURES TO DIS-
CLOSE.—The multiple failure to disclose to any person any
information required under this title in connection with
a single rental-purchase transaction shall entitle the per-
son 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) OFFSET FROM AMOUNT OWED TO MERCHANT
OR ASSIGNEE; RIGHTS OF CONSUMER.—A person may not
take any action to offset any amount for which a merchant
or assignee is potentially liable to such person under sub-
section (a)(2) of this section against any amount owed by
such person, unless the amount of the merchant’s or as-
signee’s liability under this section has been determined
by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction in an
action of which such person was a party. This subsection
does not bar a consumer from asserting a violation of this
title as an original action, or as a defense or counterclaim
to an action to collect amounts owed by the consumer
brought by a person liable under this section.
‘‘SEC. 1013. ADDITIONAL GROUNDS FOR CIVIL LIABILITY.
‘‘Any merchant who fails to comply with any require-
ments imposed under section 1010 or 1011 with respect
to any consumer who suffers actual damage from the vio-
lation is liable to such consumer as provided in section
1012.
‘‘SEC. 1014. LIABILITY OF ASSIGNEES.
‘‘(a) ASSIGNEES INCLUDED.—For purposes of sec-
tion 1012, and this section, the term ‘merchant’ includes
an assignee of a merchant.
‘‘(b) LIABILITIES OF ASSIGNEES.—
‘‘(1) APPARENT VIOLATION.—An action under
section 1012 for a violation of this title may be
brought against an assignee only if the violation is
apparent on the face of the rental-purchase agree-
ment to which it relates.
‘‘(2) APPARENT
VIOLATION
DEFINED.—For
purposes of this subsection, a violation that is appar-
ent on the face of a rental-purchase agreement in-
cludes a disclosure that can be determined to be in-
complete or inaccurate from the face of the agree-
ment.
‘‘(3) INVOLUNTARY ASSIGNMENT.—An assignee
has no liability in a case in which the assignment is
involuntary.
‘‘(4) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—No provision
of this section shall be construed as limiting or alter-
ing the liability under section 1012 of a merchant
assigning a rental-purchase agreement.
‘‘(b) PROOF OF DISCLOSURE.—In an action by or
against an assignee, the consumer’s written acknowledg-
ment of receipt of a disclosure shall be conclusive proof
that the disclosure was made, if the assignee had no
knowledge that the disclosure had not been made when
the assignee acquired the rental-purchase agreement to
which it relates.
‘‘SEC. 1015. REGULATIONS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Board may prescribe regu-
lations to carry out the purposes of this title, to prevent
its circumvention, and to facilitate compliance with its re-
quirements.
‘‘(b) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—Any reg-
ulation prescribed by the Board, or any amendment or in-
terpretation thereof, shall not be effective before the Octo-
ber 1 that follows the date of publication of the regulation
in final form by at least 6 months. The Board may at
its discretion lengthen that period of time to permit mer-
chants to adjust to accommodate new requirements. The
Board may also shorten that period of time, notwith-
standing the first sentence, if it makes a specific finding
that such action is necessary to comply with the findings
of a court or to prevent unfair or deceptive practices. In
any case, merchants may comply with any newly pre-
scribed disclosure requirement prior to its effective date.
‘‘SEC. 1016. ENFORCEMENT.
‘‘(a) FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT.—Compliance with
the requirements imposed under this title shall be enforced
under the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41
et seq.), and a violation of any requirements imposed
under this title shall be deemed a violation of a require-
ment imposed under that Act. All of the functions and
powers of the Federal Trade Commission under the Fed-
eral Trade Commission Act are available to the Commis-
sion to enforce compliance by any person with the require-
ments of this title, irrespective of whether that person is
engaged in commerce or meets any other jurisdictional
test in the Federal Trade Commission Act.
‘‘(b) STATE ENFORCEMENT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An action to enforce the re-
quirements imposed by this title may also be
brought by the appropriate State attorney general in
any appropriate United States district court, or any
other court of competent jurisdiction.
‘‘(2) PRIOR WRITTEN NOTICE.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The State attorney
general shall provide prior written notice of any
such civil action to the Federal Trade Commis-
sion and shall provide the Commission with a
copy of the complaint.
‘‘(B) EMERGENCY ACTION.—If prior notice
is not feasible, the State attorney general shall
provide notice to the Commission immediately
upon instituting the action.
‘‘(3) FTC INTERVENTION.—The Commission
may—
‘‘(A) intervene in the action;
‘‘(B) upon intervening—
‘‘(i) remove the action to the appro-
priate United States district court, if it
was not originally brought there; and
‘‘(ii) be heard on all matters arising in
the action; and
‘‘(C) file a petition for appeal.
‘‘SEC. 1017. CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR WILLFUL AND KNOW-
ING VIOLATION.
‘‘Whoever willfully and knowingly gives false or inac-
curate information or fails to provide information which
he is required to disclose under the provisions of this title
or any regulation issued thereunder shall be fined not
more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than one year,
or both.
‘‘SEC. 1018. RELATION TO STATE LAW.
‘‘(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), this title
shall not be construed as annulling, altering, or affecting
in any manner the meaning, scope, or applicability of the
laws of any State relating to rental-purchase agreements,
except to the extent that those laws are inconsistent with
any provision of this title, and then only to the extent of
the inconsistency. The Board is authorized to determine
whether such inconsistencies exist. Any State law that reg-
ulates a rental-purchase agreement as a security interest,
credit sale, retail installment sale, conditional sale, or
other form of credit or imputes to such agreements the
creation of a debt or extension of credit, or requires the
disclosure of a time-price differential, an annual percent-
age rate, an effective annual percentage rate or a percent-
age rate of any kind, or similar disclosure that might sug-
gest the existence of a debt, an extension of credit, or the
payment of interest, is inconsistent with this title.
‘‘(b) CERTAIN DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS SUPER-
SEDED.—The disclosures required by paragraphs (5), (6),
(7), (8), and (11) of subsection (a) of section 1005 shall
supersede any provisions of any State law relating to dis-
closure of the cost of a rental-purchase transaction.
‘‘SEC. 1019. EFFECT ON GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.
‘‘No civil liability or criminal penalty under this title
may be imposed on the United States or any of its depart-
ments or agencies, any State or political subdivision, or
any agency of a State or political subdivision.
‘‘SEC. 1020. COMPLIANCE DATE.
‘‘Compliance with this title shall not be required until
6 months after the date of the enactment of the Consumer
Rental Purchase Agreement Act. In any case, merchants
may comply with this title at any time after such date
of enactment.’’.
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