ORS 646.780: Recovery of treble damages; exception; recovery of fees and costs; action under federal law as bar; action parens patriae by Attorney General.

(1)(a) A person, the state or a public body may bring an action for an injury to the person’s, the state’s or the public body’s business or property from a violation of ORS 646.705 to 646.805 and, upon prevailing in the action, shall recover three times the damages the person, the state or the public body sustained. An action authorized by this paragraph may be brought regardless of whether the plaintiff dealt directly or indirectly with the adverse party. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, if the state brings an action under ORS 646.760, the state may recover only the state’s actual damages sustained and any attorney fees, expert fees or investigative costs that the court may award under subsection (3) of this section. (c) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, if in any action under this section the plaintiff prevails solely on the basis of a judgment or decree entered in a proceeding under 15 U.S.C. 1 to 45, or in another action by the state under this section or under ORS 646.760 or 646.770, and the judgment or decree is used as collateral estoppel against a defendant under ORS 646.805, plaintiff’s recovery is limited to the actual damages sustained and any attorney fees, expert fees or investigative costs that may be awarded under subsection (3) of this section. (2) Unless there is a subsequent judgment that the court lacks jurisdiction, taking testimony at the commencement of trial on a civil complaint for damages filed under the antitrust laws of the United States constitutes an absolute bar and waiver of any right of a plaintiff in such action to recover damages from the same defendant under this section for the same or substantially the same acts of plaintiff. (3)(a) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, in an action brought under this section by a person other than the state or public body, the court may award reasonable attorney fees, expert fees and investigative costs to the prevailing party. (b) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, in a civil action brought under this section or under ORS 646.760 by the state or public body: (A) The court may award reasonable attorney fees, expert fees and investigative costs to the state or public body if the state or public body prevails in the action; and (B) The court may award reasonable attorney fees, expert fees and investigative costs to a defendant who prevails in an action under this section if the court determines that the state or public body had no objectively reasonable basis for asserting the claim or no reasonable basis for appealing an adverse decision of the trial court. (4) The court may not award attorney fees, expert fees or investigative costs to a prevailing defendant under the provisions of this section if the action is maintained as a class action under ORCP 32. (5)(a) If the Attorney General files an action parens patriae under ORS 646.775 within 60 days after the date that a natural person files an action as a class action under this section and both the Attorney General and the natural person seek to represent the same class of natural persons, the action brought by the Attorney General must be deemed superior to the natural person’s action for the purposes of determining whether the natural person’s action under this section may not be maintained as a class action under ORCP 32. (b) Upon commencement of an action as a class action under this section by a natural person, the natural person shall mail a copy of the complaint to the Attorney General. Failure to mail a copy of the complaint is not a jurisdictional defect. (c) The Attorney General’s action must be deemed superior to the action brought as a class action as described in paragraph (a) of this subsection until the earlier of: (A) Thirty days after the natural person mails a copy of the complaint to the Attorney General as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection; or (B) The date that a court finds that the natural person’s action is to be maintained as a class action. (d) Nothing in this subsection prohibits a natural person from filing an action as a class action if: (A) The Attorney General’s parens patriae action is dismissed before adjudication of the issues without damages paid to any natural person; or (B) A sufficient number of natural persons opt out of the parens patriae action to sustain a separate class action. [1975 c.255 §10; 1981 c.897 §83; 1983 c.467 §1; 1985 c.251 §27; 1995 c.696 §39; 2001 c.393 §2; 2009 c.304 §1; 2023 c.103 §5]