(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), any person who engages in any practice prohibited by this chapter shall be deemed to have engaged in an unfair method of competition or unfair and deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce within the meaning of section 480-2.

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 480D-4

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Debt: means any obligation or alleged obligation of a person to pay money arising out of any transaction, whether or not the obligation has been reduced to judgment. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 480D-2
  • Debt collector: means any person, who is not a collection agency regulated pursuant to chapter 443B, and who in the regular course of business collects or attempts to collect consumer debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to the collector. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 480D-2
  • Person: means an individual, partnership, joint venture, corporation, association, business, trust, or any organized group of persons, or any combination thereof. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 480D-2
(b) In any case involving violations of section 480D-3(3) or (8), the debt collector shall not be subject to the provisions of subsection (a) if the debt collector can prove that the violation resulted from a bona fide error, notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to avoid such error. Examples of bona fide error include, but are not limited to, clerical miscalculations, computer malfunction, printing errors, and computer programming errors. If bona fide error is proven, the debt collector shall:

(1) Correct the error as expeditiously as possible and make every reasonable effort to correct any consequences of that error; and
(2) Be liable for any actual damages suffered by the consumer including the time and expense required to correct the error.

A court may award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the consumer in insuring that the error and its consequences are corrected.

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