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EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted
and is intended to be omitted in the law.
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 1269
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR WASHINGTON.
4754S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal section 570.095, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to filing
false documents, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 570.095, RSMo, is repealed and one new 1
section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 570.095, 2
to read as follows:3
570.095. 1. A person commits the offense of filing 1
false documents if: 2
(1) With the intent to defraud, deceive, harass, 3
alarm, or negatively impact financially, or in such a manner 4
reasonably calculated to deceive, defraud, harass, alarm, or 5
negatively impact financially, he or she files, causes to be 6
filed or recorded, or attempts to file or record, creates, 7
uses as genuine, transfers or has transferred, presents, or 8
prepares with knowledge or belief that it will be filed, 9
presented, recorded, or transferred to the secretary of 10
state or the secretary's designee, to the recorder of deeds 11
of any county or city not within a county or the recorder's 12
designee, to any municipal, county, district, or state 13
government entity, division, agency, court, or office, or to 14
any credit bureau or financial institution any of the 15
following types of documents: 16
(a) Common law lien; 17
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(b) Uniform commercial code filing or record; 18
(c) Real property recording; 19
(d) Financing statement; 20
(e) Contract; 21
(f) Warranty, special, or quitclaim deed; 22
(g) Quiet title claim or action; 23
(h) Deed in lieu of foreclosure; 24
(i) Legal affidavit; 25
(j) Legal process; 26
(k) Legal summons; 27
(l) Bills and due bills; 28
(m) Criminal charging documents or materially false 29
criminal charging documents; 30
(n) Court filing; 31
(o) Any other document not stated in this subdivision 32
that is related to real property; or 33
[(o)] (p) Any state, county, district, federal, 34
municipal, credit bureau, or financial institution form or 35
document; and 36
(2) Such document listed under subdivision (1) of this 37
subsection contains materially false information; is 38
fraudulent; is a forgery, as [defined] described under 39
section 570.090; is frivolous; lacks the consent of all 40
parties listed in a document that requires mutual consent; 41
or is invalid or unenforceable under Missouri law; or in the 42
case a document used under paragraph (n) of subdivision (1) 43
of this subsection, lacks probable cause. 44
2. Filing false documents under this section is a 45
class [D] C felony for the first offense except the 46
following circumstances shall be a class [C] B felony: 47
(1) The defendant has been previously found guilty or 48
pleaded guilty to a violation of this section; 49
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(2) The victim or named party in the matter: 50
(a) Is an official elected to municipal, county, 51
district, federal, or statewide office; 52
(b) Is an official appointed to municipal, county, 53
district, federal, or statewide office; or 54
(c) Is an employee of an official elected or appointed 55
to municipal, county, district, federal, or statewide office; 56
(3) The victim or named party in the matter is a judge 57
or magistrate of: 58
(a) Any court or division of the court in this or any 59
other state or an employee thereof; or 60
(b) Any court system of the United States or is an 61
employee thereof; 62
(4) The victim or named party in the matter is a full- 63
time, part-time, or reserve or auxiliary peace officer, as 64
defined under section 590.010, who is licensed in this state 65
or any other state; 66
(5) The victim or named party in the matter is a full- 67
time, part-time, or volunteer firefighter in this state or 68
any other state; 69
(6) The victim or named party in the matter is an 70
officer of federal job class 1811 who is empowered to 71
enforce United States laws; 72
(7) The victim or named party in the matter is a law 73
enforcement officer of the United States as defined under 5 74
U.S.C. Section 8401(17)(A) or (D); 75
(8) The victim or named party in the matter is an 76
employee of any law enforcement or legal prosecution agency 77
in this state, any other state, or the United States; 78
(9) The victim or named party in the matter is an 79
employee of a federal agency that has agents or officers of 80
job class 1811 who are empowered to enforce United States 81
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laws or is an employee of a federal agency that has law 82
enforcement officers as defined under 5 U.S.C. Section 83
8401(17)(A) or (D); or 84
(10) The victim or named party in the matter is an 85
officer of the railroad police as [defined] authorized under 86
section 388.600. 87
3. For a penalty enhancement as described under 88
subsection 2 of this section to apply, the occupation of the 89
victim or named party shall be material to the subject 90
matter of the document or documents filed or the relief 91
sought by the document or documents filed, and the 92
occupation of the victim or named party shall be materially 93
connected to the apparent reason that the victim has been 94
named, victimized, or involved. For purposes of subsection 95
2 of this section and this subsection, a person who has 96
retired or resigned from any agency, institution, or 97
occupation listed under subsection 2 of this section shall 98
be considered the same as a person who remains in employment 99
and shall also include the following family members of a 100
person listed under subdivisions (2) to (9) of subsection 2 101
of this section: 102
(1) Such person's spouse; 103
(2) Such person or such person's spouse's ancestor or 104
descendant by blood or adoption; or 105
(3) Such person's stepchild while the marriage 106
creating that relationship exists. 107
4. Any person who pleads guilty or is found guilty 108
under subsections 1 to 3 of this section shall be ordered by 109
the court to make full restitution to any person or entity 110
that has sustained actual losses or costs as a result of the 111
actions of the defendants. Such restitution shall not be 112
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paid in lieu of jail or prison time but rather in addition 113
to any jail or prison time imposed by the court. 114
5. (1) Nothing in this section shall limit the power 115
of the state to investigate, charge, or punish any person 116
for any conduct that constitutes a crime by any other 117
statute of this state or the United States. 118
(2) No receiving entity shall be required under this 119
section to retain the filing or record for prosecution under 120
this section. A filing or record being rejected by the 121
receiving entity shall not be used as an affirmative defense. 122
6. (1) Any agency of the state, a county, or a city 123
not within a county that is responsible for or receives 124
document filings or records, including county recorders of 125
deeds and the secretary of state's office, shall, by January 126
1, 2019, impose a system in which the documents that have 127
been submitted to the receiving agency, or those filings 128
rejected by the secretary of state under its legal 129
authority, are logged or noted in a ledger, spreadsheet, or 130
similar recording method if the filing or recording officer 131
or employee believes the filings or records appear to be 132
fraudulent or contain suspicious language. The receiving 133
agency shall make noted documents available for review by: 134
(a) The jurisdictional prosecuting or circuit attorney 135
or such attorney's designee; 136
(b) The county sheriff or the sheriff's designee; 137
(c) The police chief of a county or city not within a 138
county or such chief's designee; or 139
(d) A commissioned peace officer as defined under 140
section 590.010. 141
Review of such documents is permissible for the agent or 142
agencies under this subdivision without the need of a grand 143
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jury subpoena or court order. No fees or monetary charges 144
shall be levied on the investigative agents or agencies for 145
review of documents noted in the ledger or spreadsheet. The 146
ledger or spreadsheet and its contents shall be retained by 147
the agency that controls entries into such ledger or 148
spreadsheet for a minimum of three years from the earliest 149
entry listed in the ledger or spreadsheet. 150
(2) The receiving entity shall, upon receipt of a 151
filing or record that has been noted as a suspicious filing 152
or record, notify the chief law enforcement officer or such 153
officer's designee of the county and the prosecutor or the 154
prosecutor's designee of the county of the filing's or 155
record's existence. Such notification shall be made within 156
two business days of the filing or record having been 157
received. Notification may be accomplished via email or via 158
paper memorandum. 159
(3) No agency receiving the filing or record shall be 160
required under this section to notify the person conducting 161
the filing or record that the filing or record is entered as 162
a logged or noted filing or record. 163
(4) Reviews to ensure compliance with the provisions 164
of this section shall be the responsibility of any 165
commissioned peace officer. Findings of noncompliance shall 166
be reported to the jurisdictional prosecuting or circuit 167
attorney or such attorney's designee by any commissioned 168
peace officer who has probable cause to believe that the 169
noncompliance has taken place purposely, knowingly, 170
recklessly, or with criminal negligence, as described under 171
section 562.016. 172
7. [To] (1) Any person who is named in or has a 173
property interest affected by a filing or record that is 174
believed to be covered by subsection 1 of this section may 175
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file a petition for a judicial review of [a] the filing or 176
record [that is believed to be fraudulent, false, 177
misleading, forged, or contains materially false 178
information, a petitioner may file] and a probable cause 179
statement that delineates the basis for the belief that the 180
filing or record is materially false, contains materially 181
false information, is a forgery, is fraudulent, or is 182
misleading. [This] 183
(2) The petition and probable cause statement shall be 184
filed in the associate or circuit court of the county in 185
which the original filing or record was transferred, 186
received, or recorded. 187
(3) If the filing or record in question is a petition 188
or other document filed in associate circuit court or 189
circuit court or is a notice of lis pendens, lien notice, or 190
another instrument related to such petition or document, 191
then, in lieu of a separate petition, the petition and 192
probable cause statement shall be in the form of a motion in 193
the pending case before the court in which the petition or 194
document is filed, providing that the hearing on the motion 195
shall be in accordance with subsection 8 of this section and 196
any ruling shall provide the same remedies as a petition for 197
review under subdivision (1) of this subsection. 198
8. (1) A filed petition under this section shall have 199
an initial hearing date within twenty business days of the 200
date the petition is filed with the court. A court ruling 201
of invalid shall be evidence that the original filing or 202
record was not accurate, true, [or] correct, or proper. A 203
court ruling of invalid shall be retained or recorded at the 204
original receiving entity. 205
(2) If personal service cannot be obtained on the 206
person responsible for the filing or record, either because 207
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such person is unknown, are outside of this state, or are 208
believed by the petitioner to be evading service, then upon 209
an affidavit of the petitioner showing that a good faith 210
effort to serve or provide actual notice to such person was 211
made, the court shall have jurisdiction to hear and rule on 212
the validity of the filing or record. 213
(3) The receiving entity shall waive all filing or 214
recording fees associated with the filing or recording of 215
the court ruling document in this subsection. Such ruling 216
may be forwarded to credit bureaus or other institutions at 217
the request of the petitioner via motion to the applicable 218
court at no additional cost to the petitioner. 219
(4) If the petition is filed by a person who is not 220
named in subdivision (1) of subsection 6 of this section, 221
the court may consider the petition as a civil case without 222
prejudice to the right of the prosecuting or circuit 223
attorney to pursue criminal charges by a separate proceeding 224
and upon a court ruling of invalid, the court shall order: 225
(a) If the person responsible for the filing or record 226
has been personally served or has waived service as of the 227
date of the hearing, the person to pay restitution to the 228
petitioner for all costs and reasonable attorney's fees that 229
were incurred by the petitioner in filing and prosecuting 230
the petition and otherwise arising from the invalid filing 231
or record; 232
(b) Unless the person responsible for the filing or 233
record has been personally served or has waived service as 234
of the date of the hearing and the court has established 235
that the invalid filing or record was made in good faith 236
after a reasonable inquiry into the legal and factual 237
grounds of the filing or notice, the person to pay damages 238
to the petitioner in an amount of not less than five hundred 239
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dollars and not more than three times the amount of actual 240
damages, including costs and reasonable attorney's fees that 241
were incurred by the petitioner in filing and prosecuting 242
the petition and otherwise arising from the invalid filing 243
or notice; or 244
(c) If the personal service on the person responsible 245
for the filing or record has not been obtained as of the 246
date of the hearing, hold a separate hearing within a 247
reasonable period of time after personal service is obtained 248
or waived and shall award costs and penalties as provided by 249
paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision. 250
9. If a filing or record is deemed invalid, court 251
costs and fees are the responsibility of the party who 252
originally initiated the filing or record. If the filing or 253
record is deemed valid, no court costs or fees, in addition 254
to standard filing fees, shall be assessed. 255
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