SB 763: Conspiracy against trade: punishment.

16755.

(a) Any violation of this chapter is a conspiracy against trade, and any person who engages in any such conspiracy or takes part therein, or aids or advises in its commission, or who as principal, manager, director, agent, servant or employee, or in any other capacity, knowingly carries out any of the stipulations, purposes, prices, rates, or furnishes any information to assist in carrying out those purposes, or orders thereunder or in pursuance thereof, is punishable, as follows:

(1) If the violator is a corporation, by a fine of not more than six million dollars ($6,000,000) or the applicable amount under paragraph (3), whichever is greater.

(2) If the violator is an individual, by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for one, two, or three years, by imprisonment for not more than one year in a county jail, by a fine of not more than the greater of one million dollars ($1,000,000) and a fine of the applicable amount under paragraph (3), or by both a fine and imprisonment.

(3) If any person derives pecuniary gain from a violation of this chapter, or the violation results in pecuniary loss to a person other than the violator, the violator may be fined not more than an amount equal to the amount of the gross gain multiplied by two or an amount equal to the amount of the gross loss multiplied by two, whichever is applicable.

(b) Any action pursuant to this section may be commenced at any time within four years after the commission of the last act comprising a part of any violation. No cause of action barred under existing law on the effective date of the amendment of this section at the 1977–78 Regular Session of the Legislature shall be revived by that amendment.

(c) All moneys received by any court in payment of any fine or civil penalty imposed pursuant to this section shall, as soon as practicable after receipt thereof, be deposited with the county treasurer of the county in which the court is situated. Amounts so deposited shall be paid as soon as practicable as follows: 100 percent to the Treasurer by warrant of the county auditor drawn upon the requisition of the clerk or judge of said court to be deposited in the Attorney General antitrust account within the General Fund of the State Treasury, as established under Section 12526 of the Government Code, on order of the Controller if the moneys received resulted from an action initiated and prosecuted by the Attorney General. If the action was initiated and prosecuted by a district attorney, then 100 percent shall be paid as soon as practicable to the treasurer of the county in which the prosecution is conducted. If the action was initiated and prosecuted jointly by the Attorney General and a district attorney or jointly by more than one district attorney, those amounts shall be paid to the State Treasurer and to the treasurer or treasurers of the county or counties participating in the prosecution in a proportion agreed upon by the agencies jointly prosecuting the case and as approved by the court.

16755.1.

(a) A civil penalty of not more than one million dollars ($1,000,000) shall be assessed and recovered in any civil action brought by the Attorney General or district attorney against any person, corporation, or business entity for each violation of this chapter.

(b) In assessing the amount of a civil penalty pursuant to this section, a court or jury shall consider any relevant circumstances presented by any of the parties to the case, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(1) The nature and seriousness of the misconduct.

(2) The number of violations committed by the defendant.

(3) The persistence of the defendant’s misconduct.

(4) The length of time over which the defendant’s misconduct occurred.

(5) The willfulness of the defendant’s misconduct.

(6) The defendant’s assets, liabilities, and net worth.

(7) The extent to which the defendant cooperated in the Attorney General’s or district attorney’s investigation and litigation.

(c) The penalty described in this section shall be recovered only in a civil action brought by the Attorney General or a district attorney, or by any of that person’s attorneys designated by it for that purpose, against any party that violates this chapter.

(d) A penalty collected pursuant to this section shall accrue only to the State of California or the county treasurer of the county in which the court is situated, and all proceeds retained pursuant to this section shall be deposited pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 16755.

16762.

Unless otherwise expressly provided, the remedies or penalties provided by this chapter are cumulative to each other and to the remedies or penalties available under other state law.