Can a person be charged above the amount of damages by laws as a fine?
<p>Added after edit: Is there any clause in the Constitution of California that prevents a law from attaching fines that are worth more than the actual damage that was caused by violation of the law?Has there been any such cases?
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The jurisdiction is : USA -&gt; California</p>
<p>The law used as example is: <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CCPA</a></p>
<p>The CCPA states that if someone fails to respect a user's privacy rights, the website owner may be charged $7,500 per visitor or violation. Now, let's say a company has 10 million users from California. The website either fails to delete IP logs of the visitors or suffers a data breach. The company only makes $100,000 per month through ads, with operations costs of $10,000 per month.</p>
<p>Can the company be given a $7,500 * 10 million = $75 billion dollar fine? Are there any laws that prevent this?</p>
<p>In general, can any law just demand any amount from anyone?</p>

<h2>Damages are (generally) not constrained by the defendant’s ability to pay</h2>
<p>The purpose of a fine is to punish the wrongdoer and dissuade others from offending. The purpose of damages is to restore the wronged party to their original position.</p>
<p>In recent times, there is a tendency to link fines to corporate profits or revenues but that is generally as a means of <em>increasing</em> the fines rather than limiting them.</p>
<p>If a fine or lawsuit bankrupts the defendant then it bankrupts the defendant.</p>

<p><strong>Q: Can the company be given a $7500*10 million=$75 billion dollar fine?</strong></p>
<p>Legally, mathematically and hypothetically yes. However a proper reading of the Act at <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&amp;sectionNum=1798.155." rel="nofollow noreferrer">1798.155(b)</a> shows that $7,500 is not a fixed mandatory amount but rather is the maximum that can be imposed for each intentional violation that is no remedied within the statutory timeframe. Courts have discretion and defendants have mitigation.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(b) A business shall be in violation of this title if it fails to cure
any alleged violation within 30 days after being notified of alleged
noncompliance. Any business, service provider, or other person that
violates this title shall be subject to an injunction and liable for a
civil penalty of <strong>not more than</strong> two thousand five hundred dollars
($2,500) for each violation or seven thousand five hundred dollars
($7,500) for each intentional violation...</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Q: Is there any laws that prevents this?</strong></p>
<p>No. There are no laws that prevent another law being applied correctly, although one may be able to appeal a court's ruling in certain situations.</p>
<p><strong>Q: This question is of general law, can any law just demand any amount from anyone?</strong></p>
<p>No. The maximum amount is set by the relevant statute.</p>

california damages fines