Article 19. Civil Remedies And Penalties of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 20. >> Chapter 6. >> Article 19.
The director may bring an action to enjoin the violation or
the threatened violation of any provision of this chapter or of any
order which is made pursuant to this chapter in the superior court in
the county in which such violation occurs or is about to occur.
There may be enjoined in one proceeding any number of defendants
alleged to be violating the same provisions or orders, although their
properties, interests, residences, or places of business may be in
several counties and the violations separate and distinct. Any
proceeding which is brought pursuant to this section shall be
governed in all other respects by the provisions of Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 525), Title 7, Part 2 of the Code of Civil
Procedure.
(a) Any person that violates any provision of this chapter
is liable civilly in the sum of not less than five hundred dollars
($500) or more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation,
to be recovered in an action by the secretary in any court of
competent jurisdiction. All sums which are recovered under this
section shall be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the
Department of Food and Agriculture Fund.
(b) The department may recover investigative costs, excluding
attorney's fees and administrative overhead, for those charges where
there has been a conviction in a court of law, or a court-supervised
settlement has been reached. Nothing in this section allows the
department to recover investigative costs for an administrative
licensing action or any action that has not been filed in a court of
law.
(c) Any person or entity responsible for investigative costs under
this section shall be allowed to audit the department's
investigative costs. The audit shall be performed by a third-party
certified public accountant and paid for by the person or entity
requesting the audit. The department shall promulgate regulations to
implement this subdivision by June 1, 2002.