New York Laws
Part 3 - Proceedings by Taxpayers
3034 - Civil Damages for Certain Unauthorized Collection Actions.

(b) Damages. In any action brought under subdivision (a) of this
section, 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
lesser of one hundred thousand dollars or the sum of (1) the actual,
direct economic damages sustained by the plaintiff as a proximate result
of the reckless or intentional actions of the officer or employee, and
(2) the costs of the action.
(c) Limitations. (1) Exhaustion of administrative remedies. The
amount of damages awarded under subdivision (b) of this section may be
reduced if the court determines that the plaintiff has not exhausted the
administrative remedies available to such plaintiff within the
department which have been established pursuant to the commissioner's
authority to compromise civil liability provided in subdivision
eighteenth-a of section one hundred seventy-one of this chapter. In
establishing administrative review procedures regarding claims for
damages under this section, the commissioner is authorized to enter into
contracts with private dispute resolution entities for the purpose of
providing review of such claims and suggested compromises by independent
third parties.
(2) Mitigation of damages. The amount of damages awarded under
paragraph one of subdivision (b) of this section shall be reduced by the
amount of such damages which could have reasonably been mitigated by the
plaintiff.

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