Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 425 - Consumer transactions — remedies and penalties.
425.301 - Remedies to be liberally administered.

425.301 Remedies to be liberally administered.
(1) The remedies provided by this subchapter shall be liberally administered to the end that the customer as the aggrieved party shall be put in at least as good a position as if the creditor had fully complied with chs. 421 to 427. Recoveries under chs. 421 to 427 shall not in themselves preclude the award of punitive damages in appropriate cases.
(2) Any right or obligation declared by chs. 421 to 427 is enforceable by action unless the provision declaring it specifies a different and limited effect.
(3) Notwithstanding any other section of chs. 421 to 427, a customer shall not be entitled to recover specific penalties provided in s. 425.302 (1) (a), 425.303 (1), 425.304 (1) or 425.305 (1) if the person violating chs. 421 to 427 shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any such error.
(4) The liability of a merchant under chs. 421 to 427 is in lieu of and not in addition to any liability under the federal consumer credit protection act and ss. 138.09, 138.14, or 218.0101 to 218.0163. An action by a person alleging a violation under chs. 421 to 427 may not be maintained if a final judgment has been rendered for or against that person with respect to the same violation under the federal consumer credit protection act or ss. 138.09, 138.14, or 218.0101 to 218.0163. If a final judgment is entered against any merchant under chs. 421 to 427 and the federal consumer credit protection act or ss. 138.09, 138.14, or 218.0101 to 218.0163 for the same violation, the merchant has a cause of action for appropriate relief to the extent necessary to avoid double liability.
(5) If there are multiple obligors in the same consumer credit transaction or consumer lease, there may be no more than one recovery of civil penalties for each violation of chs. 421 to 427.
History: 1971 c. 239; 1975 c. 407; 1979 c. 89; 1985 a. 256; 1999 a. 31; 2009 a. 405.
An error of law is not a bona fide error under sub. (3). First Wisconsin National Bank v. Nicolaou, 113 Wis. 2d 524, 335 N.W.2d 390 (1983).
Sub. (2)'s right to enforcement “by action" does not specify any right to trial. In this case, the arbitration agreement merely shifted the proceedings to a less formal, less expensive, and more expedient form. Therefore, the borrower's general attack on agreements to arbitrate, rather than litigate, failed. Cottonwood Financial, LTD v. Estes, 2012 WI App 12, 339 Wis. 2d 472, 810 N.W.2d 852, 09-0760.

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