14-02.5-32. Administrative penalties

14-02.5-32. Administrative penalties 1. If the department determines at a hearing under section 14-02.5-31 that a respondent has engaged in or is about to engage in a discriminatory housing practice, the department may order the appropriate relief, including actual damages, reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, and other injunctive or equitable relief. 2. To vindicate the public's interest, the department may assess a civil penalty against the respondent in an amount that does not exceed: a. Eleven thousand dollars if the respondent has been found by order of the department or a court to have committed a prior discriminatory housing practice; or b. Except as provided by subsection 3, twenty-seven thousand dollars if the respondent has been found by order of the department or a court to have committed one other discriminatory housing practice during the five-year period ending on the date of the filing of the charges and fifty-five thousand dollars if the respondent has been found by the department or a court to have committed two or more discriminatory housing practices during the seven-year period ending on the date of filing of the charge. 3. If the acts constituting the discriminatory housing practice that is the object of the charge are committed by the same individual who has previously been found to have committed acts constituting a discriminatory housing practice, the civil penalties in subdivision b of subsection 2 may be imposed without regard to the period of time within which any other discriminatory housing practice occurred. 4. At the request of the department, the attorney general shall sue to recover a civil penalty due under this section. Funds collected under this section must be paid to the state treasurer for deposit in the general fund.