NRS598.0979. Restraining orders; injunctions; assurances of discontinuance. [Effective July 1, 2015.]

      1.  Notwithstanding the requirement of knowledge as an element of a deceptive trade practice, when the Commissioner or Director has cause to believe that a person has engaged or is engaging in any deceptive trade practice, knowingly or otherwise, he or she may request in writing that the Attorney General represent him or her in instituting an appropriate legal proceeding, including, without limitation, an application for an injunction or temporary restraining order prohibiting the person from continuing the practices. The court may make orders or judgments necessary to prevent the use by the person of any such deceptive trade practice or to restore to any other person any money or property which may have been acquired by the deceptive trade practice.

      2.  Where the Commissioner or Director has the authority to institute a civil action or other proceeding, in lieu thereof or as a part thereof, he or she may accept an assurance of discontinuance of any deceptive trade practice. This assurance may include a stipulation for the payment by the alleged violator of:

      (a) The costs of investigation and the costs of instituting the action or proceeding;

      (b) Any amount of money which he or she may be required to pay pursuant to the provisions of NRS 598.0971 in lieu of any administrative fine; and

      (c) The restitution of any money or property acquired by any deceptive trade practice.

Ê Except as otherwise provided in this subsection and NRS 239.0115, any assurance of discontinuance accepted by the Commissioner or Director and any stipulation filed with the court is confidential to the parties to the action or proceeding and to the court and its employees. Upon final judgment by the court that an injunction or a temporary restraining order, issued as provided in subsection 1, has been violated, an assurance of discontinuance has been violated or a person has engaged in the same deceptive trade practice as had previously been enjoined, the assurance of discontinuance or stipulation becomes a public record. Proof by a preponderance of the evidence of a violation of an assurance constitutes prima facie evidence of a deceptive trade practice for the purpose of any civil action or proceeding brought thereafter by the Commissioner or Director, whether a new action or a subsequent motion or petition in any pending action or proceeding.

      (Added to NRS by 1973, 1485; A 1983, 884; 1985, 1480, 2258; 1995, 2175; 2007, 2120; R temp. 2009, 2732; R temp. 2011, 2652; R temp. 2013, 1054, expires by limitation on June 30, 2015)