Damages under the CCPA

The Tip of the Night for December 31, 2019 discussed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the statute which protects consumer privacy rights. Be sure to note that under the Act, companies can be required to pay in a private suit either the greater of between $100 and $750 per consumer and per incident, or the actual damages sustained by a victim of the data breach. See, Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.150. If the state attorney general decides to prosecute a company, private civil suits for the same breach may be barred. The attorney general can seek a penalty of $7500 for each intentional violation, and $2500 for each unintentional violation, and these violations are counted for each impacted consumer.