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View recently adopted ordinances as of January 13, 2009 NOT YET CODIFIED OR INTEGRATED IN THIS SITE. (pdf file)

Ordinances enacted through January 13, 2009

Copyrighted by SANTA CLARA COUNTY CODE & Municipal Code Corporation, 1998.

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Sec. A16-12. Civil remedies.

(a) An individual may bring a civil action against an agency whenever such agency does any of the following:

(1) Refuses to comply with an individual's lawful request to inspect pursuant to Subdivision (e)(1) of Section A16-8.

(2) Fails to maintain any record concerning any individual with such accuracy, relevancy, timeliness and completeness as is necessary to assure fairness in any determination relating to the qualifications, character, rights, opportunities of or benefits to the individual that may be made on the basis of such record, if, as a proximate result of such failure, a determination is made which is adverse to the individual.

(3) Fails to comply with any other provision of this division, or any rule promulgated thereunder, in such a way as to have an adverse effect on an individual.

(b) In any suit brought under the provisions of Subdivision (a)(1) of this section:

(1) The court may enjoin the agency from withholding the records and order the production to the complainant of any agency records improperly withheld from the complainant. In such a suit, the court shall determine the matter de novo and may examine the contents of any agency records in camera to determine whether the records or any portion thereof may be withheld as being confidential, and the burden is on the agency to sustain its action.

(2) The court shall assess against the agency reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred in any suit under this section in which the complainant has prevailed. A party may be considered to have prevailed even though he does not prevail on all issues or against all parties.

(c) Any agency that fails to comply with any provision of this division may be enjoined by any court of competent jurisdiction. The court may make such order or judgment as may be necessary to prevent the use or employment by an agency of any practices which violate this division.

Actions for injunction under this section may be prosecuted by the District Attorney in the name of the people of the State of California, whether upon his or her own complaint, or of a member of the general public, or by any individual acting in his own behalf.

(d) In any suit brought under the provisions of Subdivision (a)(1) or (2) of this section, the agency shall be liable to the individual in any amount equal to the sum of:

(1) Actual damages sustained by the individual, including damages for mental suffering.

(2) The costs of the action, together with reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court.

(e) An action to enforce any liability created under Subdivisions (a) and (d) of this section may be brought in Santa Clara County within one year from the date on which the cause of action arises, except that where a defendant has materially and willfully misrepresented any information required under this section to be disclosed to an individual who is the subject of the information and the information so misrepresented is material to the establishment of the defendant's liability to that individual under this section, the action may be brought at any time within two years after discovery by the complainant of the misrepresentation. Nothing in Subdivisions (a) and (d) of this section shall be construed to authorize any civil action by reason of any injury sustained as the result of any information practice covered by this division prior to July 1, 1979.

The rights and remedies set forth in this division shall be deemed to be nonexclusive and are in addition to all those rights and remedies which are otherwise available under any other provision of law.

(f) A civil action shall not lie based upon an allegation that an opinion which is subjective in nature, as distinguished from a factual assertion, about an individual's qualifications, in connection with a personnel action concerning such an individual, was not accurate, relevant, timely, necessary or complete.

(g) Where a remedy other than those provided in Section A16-8 and this section is provided by law but is not available because of lapse of time, an individual may obtain a correction to a record under this division, but such correction shall not operate to revise or restore a right or remedy not provided by this division that has been barred because of lapse of time.

(h) Any person who intentionally discloses information, not otherwise public, which they know or should reasonably know was obtained from personal or confidential information maintained by an agency or from "records" within a "system of records" (as such terms are defined in the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-579; 5 U.S.C. 552a)) maintained by a federal government agency, shall be subject to a civil action, for invasion of privacy, by the individual to whom the information pertains.

In any successful action brought under this section, the complainant, in addition to any special or general damages awarded, shall be awarded a minimum of $2,500.00 in exemplary damages as well as attorney's fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred in the suit.

The right, remedy and cause of action set forth in this section shall be nonexclusive and is in addition to all other rights, remedies and causes of action for invasion of privacy, inherent in Section 1, Article I of the California Constitution.

(Ord. No. NS-300.288, § 1, 6-12-79)

Editor's note--Ord. No. NS-300.265, § 2, adopted June 12, 1979, provided that §§ A16-12, A16-13 not be effective until Jan. 1, 1980.

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