Section 16-14-6. Available civil remedies

   (a) Any superior court may, after making due provisions for the rights of innocent persons, enjoin violations of Code Section 16-14-4 by issuing appropriate orders and judgments including, but not limited to:

   (1) Ordering any defendant to divest himself of any interest in any enterprise, real property, or personal property;

   (2) Imposing reasonable restrictions upon the future activities or investments of any defendant including, but not limited to, prohibiting any defendant from engaging in the same type of endeavor as the enterprise in which he was engaged in violation of Code Section 16-14-4;

   (3) Ordering the dissolution or reorganization of any enterprise;

   (4) Ordering the suspension or revocation of any license, permit, or prior approval granted to any enterprise by any agency of the state; or

   (5) Ordering the forfeiture of the charter of a corporation organized under the laws of this state or the revocation of a certificate authorizing a foreign corporation to conduct business within this state upon a finding that the board of directors or a managerial agent acting on behalf of the corporation, in conducting affairs of the corporation, has authorized or engaged in conduct in violation of Code Section 16-14-4 and that, for the prevention of future criminal activity, the public interest requires that the charter of the corporation be forfeited and that the corporation be dissolved or the certificate be revoked.

(b) Any aggrieved person or the state may institute a proceeding under subsection (a) of this Code section. In such proceeding, relief shall be granted in conformity with the principles that govern the granting of injunctive relief from threatened loss or damage in other civil cases, provided that no showing of special or irreparable damage to the person shall have to be made. Upon the execution of proper bond against damages for an injunction improvidently granted and a showing of immediate danger of significant loss or damage, a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction may be issued in any such action before a final determination on the merits.

(c) Any person who is injured by reason of any violation of Code Section 16-14-4 shall have a cause of action for three times the actual damages sustained and, where appropriate, punitive damages. Such person shall also recover attorneys' fees in the trial and appellate courts and costs of investigation and litigation reasonably incurred. The defendant or any injured person may demand a trial by jury in any civil action brought pursuant to this Code section.

(d) Any injured person shall have a right or claim to forfeited property or to the proceeds derived therefrom superior to any right or claim the state or the county (other than for costs) has in the same property or proceeds. To enforce such a claim, the injured person must intervene in the forfeiture proceeding prior to its final disposition.

(e) A conviction in any criminal proceeding under this chapter shall estop the defendant in any subsequent civil action or proceeding as to all matters proved in the criminal proceeding.

Code 1933, § 26-3406, enacted by Ga. L. 1980, p. 405, § 1.