N.Y. General Obligations Law § 5-337: Agreements requiring contractees to waive their rights in relation to expressing certain opinions about contractors void and unenforceable

§ 5-337. Agreements requiring contractees to waive their rights in

relation to expressing certain opinions about contractors void and

unenforceable. 1. (a) A contract or proposed contract for the sale or

lease of consumer goods or services may not include a provision waiving

the consumer's right to make any statement regarding the seller or

lessor or its employees or agents, or concerning the goods or services.

(b) It shall be unlawful to threaten or to seek to enforce a provision

made unlawful under this section, or to otherwise penalize a consumer

for making any statement protected under this section.

2. Any waiver of the provisions of this section is contrary to public

policy, and is void and unenforceable.

3. Any person or entity that violates this section shall be subject to

a civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars for the

first violation, and five thousand dollars for the second and for each

subsequent violation, to be assessed and collected in a civil action

brought by the consumer or by the attorney general. In addition, for a

willful or intentional violation of this section, a consumer or the

attorney general may recover a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand

dollars. Under this section, when the civil action is brought by the

consumer, the civil penalty shall be payable to the consumer and when

the civil action is brought by the attorney general, such civil penalty

shall be payable to the state.

4. The penalty provided by this section is not an exclusive remedy,

and does not affect any other relief or remedy provided by law. This

section shall not be construed to prohibit or limit a person or business

that hosts online consumer reviews or comments from removing a statement

that is otherwise lawful to remove.