TITLE 1.6A. INVESTIGATIVE CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES
Article 4. Remedies
California Civil Code Section 1786.50-1786.56

1786.50.  (a) Any investigative consumer reporting agency or user of
information that fails to comply with any requirement under this
title with respect to an investigative consumer report is liable to
the consumer who is the subject of the report in an amount equal to
the sum of all the following:
   (1) Any actual damages sustained by the consumer as a result of
the failure or, except in the case of class actions, two thousand
five hundred dollars ($2,500), whichever sum is greater, and
   (2) In the case of any successful action to enforce any liability
under this chapter, the costs of the action together with reasonable
attorney's fees as determined by the court.
   (b) If the court determines that the violation was grossly
negligent or willful, the court may, in addition, assess, and the
consumer may recover, punitive damages.
   (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), an investigative consumer
reporting agency or user of information that fails to comply with any
requirement under this title with respect to an investigative
consumer report shall not be liable to a consumer who is the subject
of the report where the failure to comply results in a more favorable
investigative consumer report than if there had not been a failure
to comply.


1786.52.  Nothing in this chapter shall in any way affect the right
of any consumer to maintain an action against an investigative
consumer reporting agency, a user of an investigative consumer
report, or an informant for invasion of privacy or defamation.
   An action to enforce any liability created under this title may be
brought in any appropriate court of competent jurisdiction within
two years from the date on which the liability arises except that
where a defendant has materially and willfully misrepresented any
information required under this title to be disclosed to a consumer
and the information so misrepresented is material to the
establishment of the defendant's liability to the consumer under this
title the action may be brought at any time within two years after
the discovery by the consumer of the misrepresentation.
   (a) Any investigative consumer reporting agency or user of
information against whom an action brought pursuant to Section 1681n
or 1681o of Title 15 of the United States Code is pending shall not
be subject to suit for the same act or omission under Section
1786.50.
   (b) The entry of a final judgment against the investigative
consumer reporting agency or user of information in an action brought
pursuant to the provisions of Section 1681n or 1681o of Title 15 of
the United States Code shall be a bar to the maintenance of any
action based on the same act or omission which might be brought under
this title.



1786.54.  This title does not apply to any investigative consumer
report which by its terms is limited to disclosures from public
records relating to land and land titles or which is a report issued
preliminary to the issuance of a policy of title insurance, and it
does not apply to any person whose records are maintained for the
primary purpose of reporting those portions of public records which
impart constructive notice under the law of matters relating to land
and land titles and which may be issued as the basis for the issuance
of a policy of title insurance.



1786.56.  If any provision of this act or the application thereof to
any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall
not affect other provisions or applications of the act which can be
given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to
this end the provisions of this act are severable.

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