N.Y. Vehicle & Traffic Law § 417-b: Mandatory disclosures by second-hand dealers prior to resale

§ 417-b. Mandatory disclosures by second-hand dealers prior to resale.

1. Upon the sale or transfer of title by any dealer of any second-hand

motor vehicle which was manufactured or assembled on or after July

first, nineteen hundred ninety-one and designed as a nineteen hundred

ninety-two or later model and which the dealer knows or has reason to

know that such vehicle is not equipped with a tamper-resistant odometer

as provided in subdivision forty-six of section three hundred

seventy-five of this chapter, the dealer shall execute and deliver to

the buyer an instrument in writing in a form prescribed by the

commissioner setting forth the following information in ten point, all

capital type: "IMPORTANT: THIS VEHICLE IS NOT EQUIPPED WITH A

TAMPER-RESISTANT ODOMETER." Such notice that a vehicle is not equipped

with a tamper-resistant odometer shall also be conspicuously printed on

the motor vehicle's certificate of title.

2. The failure of a dealer to deliver to the buyer the instrument

required by this section or the delivery of an instrument containing

false or misleading information shall constitute a violation of this

section.

3. A consumer injured by a violation of this section may bring an

action to recover damages. Judgment may be entered for three times the

actual damages suffered by a consumer or one hundred dollars, whichever

is greater. A court also may award reasonable attorneys' fees to a

prevailing plaintiff buyer.

4. a. Upon any violation of this section, an application may be made

by the attorney general in the name of the people of the state of New

York to a court or justice having jurisdiction to issue an injunction,

and upon notice to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin

and restrain the continuance of the violation. If it shall appear to the

satisfaction of the court or justice that the defendant has violated

this section, an injunction may be issued by the court or justice,

enjoining and restraining any further violation, without requiring proof

that any person has, in fact, been injured or damaged thereby. In any

such proceeding, the court may make allowances to the attorney general

as provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section eighty-three

hundred three of the civil practice law and rules, and direct

restitution.

b. Whenever the court shall determine that a violation of this section

has occurred, it may impose a civil penalty of not more than one

thousand dollars for each violation. In connection with an application

made under this subdivision, the attorney general is authorized to take

proof and to make a determination of the relevant facts and to issue

subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.