(a)  A lessee who has suffered a loss due to a violation of this chapter by a lessor is entitled to recover from the lessor actual damages, reasonable attorney’s fees, and court costs.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 6-44-9

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • 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.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6

(b)  A lessor shall not be held liable in any action brought under this section if he or she shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error, notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to avoid any error. A bona fide error shall include, but shall not be limited to, clerical, calculation, computer malfunction, and programming and printing errors; provided that an error of legal judgment with respect to a person‘s obligations under this chapter shall not be a bona fide error.

(c)  A lessor shall not be deemed liable under this chapter for a violation of the provisions of § 6-44-3 if, within sixty (60) days after discovering the error and before an action is filed in accordance with the provisions of this section or written notice of the error is received from the consumer, the lessor notifies the consumer of the error and makes whatever adjustments in the account necessary to assure that the consumer shall not be required to pay an amount in excess of the amounts actually disclosed. This provision shall apply whether the discovery of the error was made through the lessor’s own procedures or otherwise.

(d)  An action shall not be brought under this chapter more than one year after the occurrence of the act, method, or practice that is the subject of the action, or more than one year after the last payment in a transaction involving the method, act, or practice that is the subject of the action, whichever is later.

History of Section.
P.L. 1989, ch. 481, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 528, § 31.