Civil liability

§ 408. Civil liability (a) Section 130(a) of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1640(a)) is amended to read as follows: “(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, any creditor who fails to comply with any requirement imposed under this chapter or chapter 4 of this title with respect to any person is liable to such person in an amount equal to the sum of— “(1) any actual damage sustained by such person as a result of the failure; “(2)(A) in the case of an individual action twice the amount of any finance charge in connection with the transaction, except that the liability under this subparagraph shall not be less than $100 nor greater than $1,000; or “(B) in the case of a class action, such amount as the court may allow, except that as to each member of the class no minimum recovery shall be applicable, and the total recovery in such action shall not be more than the lesser of $100,000 or 1 per centum of the net worth of the creditor; and “(3) in the case of any successful action to enforce the foregoing liability, the costs of the action, together with a reasonable attorney’s fee as determined by the court. In determining the amount of award in any class action, the court shall consider, among other relevant factors, the, amount of any actual damages awarded, 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.” (b) Section 130(b) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 1640(b)) is amended by inserting after “this section” the first place it appears the following: “for any failure to comply with any requirement imposed under this chapter,”. (c) Section 130(c) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 1640(c) 1 is amended by striking out “chapter” and inserting in lieu thereof “title”. (d) Section 130 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 1640) is amended by adding at the end thereof a new subsection as follows: “(h) A person may not take any action to offset any amount for which a creditor is potentially liable to such person under subsection 88 Stat. 1519(a)(2) against any amount owing to such creditor by such person, unless the amount of the creditor’s liability to such person has been determined by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction in an action to which such person was a party.” (e) The amendments made by sections 406, 407, and 408 shall apply in determining the liability of any person under chapter 2 or 4 of the Truth in Lending Act, unless prior to the date of enactment of this Act such liability has been determined by final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction and no further review of such judgment may be had by appeal or otherwise.