Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5330 · Article 7. Legal and Civil Rights of Persons Involuntarily Detained
Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5330
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Any person may bring an action against an individual who has willfully and knowingly released confidential information or records concerning him or her in violation of this chapter, or of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 11860) of Part 3 of Division 10.5 of the Health and Safety Code, for the greater of the following amounts:
(1) Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(2) Three times the amount of actual damages, if any, sustained by the plaintiff.
(b) Any person may bring an action against an individual who has negligently released confidential information or records concerning him or her in violation of this chapter, or of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 11860) of Part 3 of Division 10.5 of the Health and Safety Code, for both of the following:
(1) One thousand dollars ($1,000). In order to recover under this paragraph, it shall not be a prerequisite that the plaintiff suffer or be threatened with actual damages.
(2) The amount of actual damages, if any, sustained by the plaintiff.
(c) Any person may, in accordance with Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 525) of Title 7 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, bring an action to enjoin the release of confidential information or records in violation of this chapter, and may in the same action seek damages as provided in this section.
(d) In addition to the amounts specified in subdivisions (a) and (b), the plaintiff shall recover court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees as determined by the court.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 738, Sec. 1. Effective September 22, 1998.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC§ionNum=5330.
- Text hash
- sha256 6ea669cc93b83c585fd28d7a3af8a23ffb4b680d096b816c690dcbe8ac9549c1
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.