Indiana Code 24-4.5-5-203. Civil liability for violation of disclosure provisions
(a) the following:
Terms Used In Indiana Code 24-4.5-5-203
- Attorney: includes a counselor or other person authorized to appear and represent a party in an action or special proceeding. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. Source: OCC
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
(2) in the case of a class action, an amount the court allows, except that as to each member of the class no minimum recovery is applicable, and the total recovery under this subdivision in any class action or series of class actions arising out of the same failure to comply by the same creditor may not be more than the lesser of:
(i) five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000); or
(ii) one percent (1%) of the net worth of the creditor; and
(b) in the case of a successful action to enforce the liability under paragraph (a), the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney‘s fees as determined by the court. In determining the amount of the award in a class action, the court shall consider, among other relevant factors, the amount of any award granted under the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.), the frequency and persistence of failures of compliance by the creditor, the resources of the creditor, the number of persons adversely affected, and the extent to which the creditor’s failure of compliance was intentional.
(2) A creditor has no liability under this section if within sixty (60) days after discovering an error, and prior to the institution of an action under this section or the receipt of written notice of the error, the creditor notifies the person 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 a credit service charge or loan finance charge in excess of the amount or percentage rate actually disclosed.
(3) A creditor may not be held liable in any action brought under this section for a violation of this article if the creditor shows by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid the error.
(4) If there are multiple obligors in a consumer credit transaction or consumer lease, there may not be more than one (1) recovery of damages under subdivision (a)(1) for one (1) violation of this article with respect to that consumer credit transaction or consumer lease.
(5) The multiple failure to disclose to any person any information required under this article to be disclosed in connection with a single account under an open end consumer credit plan, a single consumer credit sale, a consumer loan, a consumer lease, or another extension of consumer credit entitles that person to a single recovery under this section. However, continued failure to disclose after a recovery has been granted gives rise to rights to additional recoveries.
(6) Any action which may be brought under this section against the original creditor in any credit transaction involving a security interest in land may be maintained against any subsequent assignee of the original creditor where the assignee, its subsidiaries, or affiliates were in a continuing business relationship with the original creditor either at the time the credit was extended or at the time of the assignment, unless the assignment was involuntary, or the assignee shows by a preponderance of evidence that it did not have reasonable grounds to believe that the original creditor was engaged in violations of this article, and that it maintained procedures reasonably adapted to apprise it of the existence of the violations.
(7) No action pursuant to this section may be brought more than one (1) year after the date of the occurrence of the violations.
(8) In this section, creditor includes a person who in the ordinary course of business regularly extends or arranges for the extension of credit, or offers to arrange for the extension of credit.
Formerly: Acts 1971, P.L.366, SEC.6. As amended by P.L.181-1991, SEC.5; P.L.159-2017, SEC.16.