PUBLIC LAW 104-193—AUG. 22, 1996
110 STAT. 2241
ment agency attempting to establish, modify, or enforce a child
support obligation of such individual.
" (b) PROHIBITION OF DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL RECORD
OBTAINED BY STATE CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.— ^A
State child support enforcement agency which obtains a financial
record of an individual from a financial institution pursuemt to
subsection (a) may disclose such financial record only for the purpose of, and to the extent necessary in, establishing, modifying,
or enforcing a child support obligation of such individu^.
" (c) CIVIL DAMAGES FOR UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE.—
" (1) DISCLOSURE BY STATE OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE.— I f any
person knowingly, or by reason of negligence, discloses a financial record of an individual in violation of subsection (b), such
individual may bring a civil action for damages against such
person in a district court of the United States.
" (2) No LIABILITY FOR GOOD FAITH BUT ERRONEOUS
INTERPRETATION. — No liability shall arise under this subsection
with respect to any disclosure which results from a good faith,
but erroneous, interpretation of subsection (b).
"(3) DAMAGES.—In any action brought under paragraph
(1), upon a finding of liability on the part of the defendant,
the defendant shall be liable to the plaintiff in an amount
equal to the sum of—
»
"(A) the greater of—
"(i) $1,000 for each act of unauthorized disclosure
of a financial record with respect to which such defendant is found liable; or
"(ii) the sum of—
"(I) the actual damages sustained by the
plaintiff as a result of such unauthorized disclosure; plus
"(II) in the case of a willful disclosure or a
disclosure which is the result of gross negligence,
punitive damages; plus
"(B) the costs (including attome/s fees) of the action.
"(d) DEFINITIONS. —For purposes of this section—
"(1) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION. —The term 'financial institution' means—
"(A) a depository institution, as defined in section 3(c)
of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(c));
"(B) an institution-affiliated party, as defined in section
3(u) of such Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(u));
"(C) any Federal credit union or State credit union,
as defined in section 101 of the Federal Credit Union
Act (12 U.S.C. 1752), including an institution-affihated
party of such a credit union, as defined in section 206(r)
of such Act (12 U.S.C. 1786(r)); and
"(D) any benefit association, insurance company, safe
deposit company, money-market mutual fund, or similar
entity authorized to do business in the State.
"(2) FINANCIAL RECORD.—The term 'financial record' has
the meaning given such term in section 1101 of the Right
to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 3401).".
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