HB 14: "An Act authorizing and relating to certain causes of action for relief for direct or indirect injuries sustained as a result of antitrust violations; repealing the provision limiting to the attorney general the recovery of monetary relief for injury directly or indirectly sustained as a result of an antitrust violation; and relating to remedies, penalties, judgments, aggregate damages, and commencement of actions for antitrust violations."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 14 01 "An Act authorizing and relating to certain causes of action for relief for direct or 02 indirect injuries sustained as a result of antitrust violations; repealing the provision 03 limiting to the attorney general the recovery of monetary relief for injury directly or 04 indirectly sustained as a result of an antitrust violation; and relating to remedies, 05 penalties, judgments, aggregate damages, and commencement of actions for antitrust 06 violations." 07 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 08 * Section 1. AS 45.50.576(a) is amended to read: 09 (a) A person that [WHO] is injured directly or indirectly [IN BUSINESS 10 OR PROPERTY] by a violation of AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.570, or a person that is [SO] 11 injured because the person refuses to accede to a proposal for an arrangement that, if 12 consummated, would be a violation of AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.570, may bring a civil 13 action
01 (1) for damages directly or indirectly sustained by the person, and, if 02 the judgment is for the plaintiff, the plaintiff shall be awarded threefold the amount of 03 damages directly or indirectly sustained by the person, plus the costs of the suit, 04 including reasonable attorney fees; and 05 (2) to enjoin the unlawful practice, and, if the judgment is for the 06 plaintiff, the plaintiff may be awarded costs of the suit, including reasonable attorney 07 fees. 08 * Sec. 2. AS 45.50.576 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 09 (d) A person commencing an action for a violation of AS 45.50.562 - 10 45.50.570 shall, simultaneously with the filing of the complaint with the court, mail a 11 copy of the complaint to the attorney general. 12 (e) In this section, "person" has the meaning given in AS 01.10.060 and 13 includes the state, a political subdivision of the state, including a home rule or general 14 law city or borough, and other governmental entities, including the Alaska Railroad 15 Corporation and the University of Alaska. 16 * Sec. 3. AS 45.50.577(a) is amended to read: 17 (a) The attorney general may bring a civil action [IN SUPERIOR COURT] to 18 secure monetary, injunctive, and other equitable relief [AS PROVIDED IN THIS 19 SECTION] on behalf of the state and its agencies injured [EITHER] directly or 20 indirectly by reason of a [ANY] violation of AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.570. 21 * Sec. 4. AS 45.50.577(b) is amended to read: 22 (b) The attorney general may bring a civil action [IN SUPERIOR COURT] in 23 the name of the state, as parens patriae on behalf of [GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES 24 OR] persons doing business or residing in this state, to secure monetary, injunctive, 25 and other equitable relief [AS PROVIDED IN THIS SECTION] for injuries directly 26 or indirectly sustained by persons by reason of a [ANY] violation of AS 45.50.562 - 27 45.50.570. 28 * Sec. 5. AS 45.50.577(e) is amended to read: 29 (e) In an [ANY] action brought under (b) of this section, the attorney general, 30 at the times, in the manner, and with the content the court directs, shall cause notice of 31 the action to be given by publication. A [ANY GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY OR]
01 person on whose behalf an action is brought under (b) of this section may elect to 02 exclude from civil action the portion of the state claim for [MONETARY] relief 03 attributable to that [GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY OR] person by filing notice of the 04 election with the court within the time specified in the attorney general's notice given 05 in accordance with this subsection. 06 * Sec. 6. AS 45.50.577(f) is amended to read: 07 (f) The final judgment in an action under (a) or (b) of this section is res 08 judicata as to any claim under AS 45.50.576 by a [ANY GOVERNMENTAL 09 ENTITY OR] person on whose behalf the action was brought and who fails to give 10 notice of election to exclude under (e) of this section within the period specified in the 11 attorney general's notice given under (e) of this section. 12 * Sec. 7. AS 45.50.577(h) is amended to read: 13 (h) Monetary relief recovered in an action under this section shall be (1) 14 distributed in the manner the court, in its discretion, authorizes; or (2) considered 15 [DEEMED] a civil penalty by the court and deposited in the general fund [,] and may 16 be appropriated to the Alaska permanent fund (AS 37.13.010(a)) or for any other 17 public purpose. A distribution procedure authorized by the court under this subsection 18 must afford each [GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY OR] person participating in the civil 19 action a reasonable opportunity to secure that [ENTITY'S OR] person's appropriate 20 portion of the net monetary relief. 21 * Sec. 8. AS 45.50.577 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 22 (j) In this section, "person" has the meaning given in AS 01.10.060 and 23 includes the state, a political subdivision of the state, including a home rule or general 24 law city or borough, and other governmental entities, including the Alaska Railroad 25 Corporation and the University of Alaska. 26 * Sec. 9. AS 45.50.579 is amended to read: 27 Sec. 45.50.579. Proof of aggregate damages. In a civil action brought [BY 28 THE ATTORNEY GENERAL] under AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.596 [AS 45.50.577], the 29 plaintiff [ATTORNEY GENERAL] may recover aggregate damages by using 30 statistical sampling or sampling methods, by the computation of illegal overcharges, or 31 by a similar, reasonable system of estimating aggregate damages that the court, in its
01 discretion, permits, without the necessity of separately proving the individual claim or 02 amount of damage to a person [GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES OR PERSONS] on 03 whose behalf the civil action was brought. In this section, "person" has the 04 meaning given in AS 01.10.060 and includes the state, a political subdivision of 05 the state, including a home rule or general law city or borough, and other 06 governmental entities, including the Alaska Railroad Corporation and the 07 University of Alaska. 08 * Sec. 10. AS 45.50.580(b) is amended to read: 09 (b) The court may enter an order or judgment [MAKE ADDITIONAL 10 ORDERS OR JUDGMENTS AS MAY BE NECESSARY] to restore to a person in 11 interest any money or property, real or personal, that may have been acquired by an 12 act prohibited by AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.596 [,] and [AS] may enter an order or 13 judgment [BE NECESSARY] to prevent continuing or future violations of 14 AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.596. In this subsection, "person" has the meaning given in 15 AS 01.10.060 and includes the state, a political subdivision of the state, including 16 a home rule or general law city or borough, and other governmental entities, 17 including the Alaska Railroad Corporation and the University of Alaska. 18 * Sec. 11. AS 45.50.580 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 19 (c) If the court finds that a business organization, including a corporation, 20 limited liability company, limited partnership, or partnership organized or operating 21 under the law of the state has violated AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.570, the court may order 22 the revocation, forfeiture, or suspension of the business organization's charter, 23 franchise, certificate of authority, privilege, or license, or any combination of them, 24 and may order the dissolution of the business organization or the divestiture of any 25 asset. 26 * Sec. 12. AS 45.50.586 is amended to read: 27 Sec. 45.50.586. Judgment [IN FAVOR OF THE STATE] as evidence in 28 another action. A final order or judgment rendered in a civil or criminal action 29 brought [BY THE STATE] under AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.596 is prima facie evidence of 30 liability [AGAINST THE DEFENDANT] in another [ANY OTHER] action under 31 AS 45.50.562 - 45.50.596 brought by another person [PARTY, OR BY THE STATE,
01 A CITY, A BOROUGH, OR OTHER GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY]; however, this 02 section does not apply to consent judgments or decrees entered under AS 45.50.584. 03 In this section, "person" has the meaning given in AS 01.10.060 and includes the 04 state, a political subdivision of the state, including a home rule or general law city 05 or borough, and other governmental entities, including the Alaska Railroad 06 Corporation and the University of Alaska. 07 * Sec. 13. AS 45.50.576(b), 45.50.577(i), and 45.50.580(a) are repealed.