Modifies provisions relating to the unlawful use of real property

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. 1732
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR TRENT.
7120S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal sections 534.602, 534.604, and 569.200, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof three new
sections relating to the unlawful use of real property, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 534.602, 534.604, and 569.200, RSMo, 1
are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to 2
be known as sections 534.602, 534.604, and 569.200, to read as 3
follows:4
534.602. 1. For purposes of this section, the 1
following terms mean: 2
(1) "Authorized agent", includes but is not limited to 3
executors, administrators, trustees, and verified heirs; 4
(2) "Petitioner", the property owner, or an authorized 5
agent of a property owner, of private noncommercial property 6
[containing a residential dwelling] who has filed a verified 7
petition under the provisions of this section; 8
[(2)] (3) "Respondent", the person or persons 9
unlawfully occupying private noncommercial property 10
[containing a residential dwelling], against whom a verified 11
petition has been filed; 12
[(3)] (4) "Unlawful occupant" or "unlawful occupants", 13
any person or persons who detain, occupy, or trespass on 14
private noncommercial property [containing a residential 15
dwelling] without the permission of the property owner, who 16
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otherwise have no legal right to occupy the property under 17
state law, and who are not afforded any protections provided 18
to a tenant under state law. 19
2. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to 20
the contrary, a property owner or his or her authorized 21
agent may seek relief for the removal of a person or persons 22
unlawfully occupying private noncommercial property 23
[containing a residential dwelling] under this section by 24
filing a verified petition in the county or city not within 25
a county where the property is located. 26
3. Except as provided in subsection 6 of this section, 27
clerks of the court under the supervision of a circuit clerk 28
shall explain to the property owner or his or her authorized 29
agent not represented by counsel the procedures for filing 30
all forms and pleadings necessary for the presentation of 31
his or her petition to the court. Notice of the fact that 32
clerks will provide such assistance shall be conspicuously 33
posted in the clerks' offices. The location of the office 34
where a petition can be filed shall be conspicuously posted 35
in the court building. The performance of duties prescribed 36
in this section shall not constitute the practice of law as 37
defined in section 484.010. All duties of the clerk 38
prescribed in this section shall be performed without cost 39
to the litigants. The supreme court may promulgate rules as 40
necessary to govern conduct of court clerks under this 41
section and shall provide forms for petitions and written 42
instructions on filling out all forms and pleadings 43
necessary for the presentation of the petition to the court. 44
4. Filing fees and court costs under this section 45
shall be the same as filing fees and court costs required 46
when filing a claim in associate circuit court. 47
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5. (1) Upon the filing of a verified petition under 48
this section, and for good cause shown in the verified 49
petition, the court shall immediately issue an ex parte 50
order to remove the respondent. The assertion of sufficient 51
evidence that the person or persons are unlawfully occupying 52
private noncommercial property [containing a residential 53
dwelling] shall constitute good cause for purposes of this 54
section. The verified petition shall set forth the 55
following: 56
(a) The petitioner is the property owner or authorized 57
agent of the property owner; 58
(b) [The property that is being occupied includes a 59
residential dwelling; 60
(c)] An unlawful occupant or unlawful occupants have 61
entered and remain or continue to reside on the property 62
owner's property; 63
[(d)] (c) The real property was not open to members of 64
the public at the time the unlawful occupant or unlawful 65
occupants entered; 66
[(e)] (d) The unlawful occupant or unlawful occupants 67
are occupying the property without the permission of the 68
property owner and are not guests of the property owner nor 69
otherwise authorized to make use of the property; 70
[(f)] (e) The property owner has directed the unlawful 71
occupant or unlawful occupants to leave the property and the 72
unlawful occupant or unlawful occupants have failed or 73
refused to vacate the [premises] property; 74
[(g)] (f) The property has not been leased to any 75
person for three consecutive months, and the unlawful 76
occupant or unlawful occupants are not current or former 77
tenants of the property pursuant to any agreement with the 78
property owner; 79
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[(h)] (g) The unlawful occupant or unlawful occupants 80
are not immediate family members of the property owner; and 81
[(i)] (h) There is no pending litigation related to 82
the real property between the property owner and any known 83
unlawful occupant or unlawful occupants. 84
(2) An ex parte order entered by the court to have the 85
unlawful occupant or unlawful occupants removed from private 86
noncommercial property [containing a residential dwelling 87
entered by the court] shall take effect when entered and 88
shall remain in effect until there is valid service of 89
process and a hearing is held on the motion. Such hearing 90
shall be held within forty-eight hours of filing the 91
verified petition unless good cause is shown for a delay. 92
The court shall deny the ex parte order and dismiss the 93
petition if the petitioner is not authorized to seek relief 94
or does not show good cause. 95
(3) Failure to serve an ex parte order on the 96
respondent shall not affect the validity or enforceability 97
of such order. 98
6. Any ex parte order granted under this section shall 99
be to protect the petitioner from trespass by an unlawful 100
occupant or unlawful occupants and may include such terms as 101
the court reasonably deems necessary to ensure the 102
petitioner's safety including, but not limited to: 103
(1) Restraining the respondent from committing or 104
threatening to commit any act of violence, molestation, 105
stalking, assault, or disturbing the peace of the petitioner 106
or the petitioner's property, including violence against a 107
pet; 108
(2) Restraining the respondent from entering the 109
petitioner's [premises] property or dwelling unit or coming 110
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within a certain proximity of the petitioner's [premises] 111
property or dwelling unit; and 112
(3) Restraining the respondent from communicating with 113
the petitioner in any manner or through any medium. 114
7. When the court has, after a hearing on the 115
petition, issued an order for relief to permanently exclude 116
an unlawful occupant or unlawful occupants from the 117
petitioner's property, it may additionally: 118
(1) Permanently restrain the respondent from 119
committing or threatening to commit any act of violence, 120
molestation, stalking, assault, or disturbing the peace of 121
the petitioner or the petitioner's property, including 122
violence against a pet; 123
(2) Permanently restrain the respondent from entering 124
the petitioner's [premises] property or dwelling unit or 125
coming within a certain proximity of the petitioner's 126
[premises] property or dwelling unit; 127
(3) Permanently restrain the respondent from 128
communicating with the petitioner in any manner or through 129
any medium; 130
(4) Permanently expel the respondent from occupying 131
the petitioner's [premises] property or dwelling unit; 132
(5) Permanently expel the respondent's personal 133
property from the petitioner's [premises] property or 134
dwelling unit; 135
(6) Order the respondent to pay all costs of repair to 136
the petitioner's [premises] property or dwelling unit 137
relating to damages caused by the respondent; 138
(7) Order the respondent to pay all costs associated 139
with service of any ex parte order authorized against the 140
respondent; or 141
(8) Order the respondent to pay court costs. 142
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8. A verified petition seeking an ex parte order under 143
this section shall contain allegations relating to those 144
orders and shall pray for the orders desired. 145
9. Once the court grants an order under this section, 146
the sheriff of the county or city not within a county in 147
which the property is located shall enforce such order by 148
removing the respondent from the property. 149
10. If appropriate, the sheriff may arrest any person 150
found [in the dwelling] on the property for trespass, 151
outstanding warrants, or any other legal cause. 152
11. The sheriff is entitled to the same fee for the 153
service of the ex parte order granted under this section as 154
if the sheriff were serving a writ of possession under 155
section 57.280. After the sheriff serves the order, the 156
property owner or authorized agent may request that the 157
sheriff stand by to keep the peace while the property owner 158
or agent of the property owner changes the locks if the 159
property contains a residential dwelling and removes the 160
[personal] property, including personal property, of the 161
unlawful occupants from the premises to or near the property 162
line. When such a request is made, the sheriff may charge a 163
reasonable hourly rate, and the person requesting the 164
sheriff to stand by and keep the peace is responsible for 165
paying the reasonable hourly rate set by the sheriff. The 166
sheriff shall not be liable to the unlawful occupant or 167
occupants or to any other party for the loss, destruction, 168
or damage of property. The property owner or his or her 169
authorized agent shall not be liable to an unlawful occupant 170
or any other party for the loss, destruction, or damage to 171
the [personal] property, including personal property, unless 172
the removal was wrongful. 173
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12. A person may bring a civil cause of action if the 174
person was removed from the property under this section 175
without just cause. Such person may seek restored 176
possession to the real property, actual damages to 177
[personal] property, including personal property when 178
[personal] such property was removed, statutory damages in 179
the amount of one thousand dollars, and reimbursement of 180
court costs. Any damages authorized under this subsection 181
shall be offset by any damages to the real property 182
inflicted by the person who was removed from the real 183
property without just cause. Such damages to real property 184
shall be proven by the property owner. Awards of actual 185
damages shall not exceed the value of the damaged [personal] 186
property. 187
13. The provisions of this section do not limit the 188
rights of a property owner or limit the authority of a law 189
enforcement officer to arrest an unlawful occupant for 190
trespassing, vandalism, theft, or other crimes. 191
14. All proceedings under this section are in addition 192
to any other available civil or criminal remedies, unless 193
otherwise specifically provided in this section. 194
15. (1) The court shall retain jurisdiction over the 195
ex parte order or full order of protection issued under this 196
section for its entire duration. The court may schedule 197
compliance review hearings to monitor the respondent's 198
compliance with the order. 199
(2) The terms of the ex parte order or full order of 200
protection issued under this section are enforceable by all 201
remedies available at law for the enforcement of a judgment, 202
and the court may punish a respondent who willfully violates 203
the ex parte order to the same extent as provided by law for 204
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contempt of the court in any other suit or proceeding 205
cognizable by the court. 206
534.604. 1. When a law enforcement officer has 1
probable cause to believe that a party, against whom an ex 2
parte order under section 534.602 has been entered and who 3
has notice of such order entered, has committed an act in 4
violation of such order, the law enforcement officer shall 5
arrest the offending party-respondent regardless of whether 6
the violation occurred in the presence of the arresting law 7
enforcement officer. 8
2. In an arrest in which a law enforcement officer 9
acted in good faith reliance on this section, the arresting 10
and assisting law enforcement officers and [their] the 11
arresting and assisting law enforcement officer's employing 12
entities and superiors shall be immune from liability in any 13
civil action alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, or 14
malicious prosecution. 15
3. A violation of the terms and conditions of an ex 16
parte order under section 534.602 shall be a class A 17
misdemeanor. For the purposes of this subsection, in 18
addition to the notice provided by actual service of the 19
order, a party is deemed to have notice of an ex parte order 20
under section 534.602 if: 21
(1) The law enforcement officer responding to a call 22
of a violation of an ex parte order under section 534.602 23
presented a copy of the ex parte order to the respondent; or 24
(2) Notice is given by actual communication to the 25
respondent in a manner reasonably likely to advise the 26
respondent. 27
4. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as 28
creating a civil cause of action for damages to enforce the 29
provisions set forth in this section. 30
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569.200. 1. A person commits the offense of criminal 1
mischief if [he or she] the person unlawfully detains, 2
occupies, or trespasses upon a [residential dwelling] 3
private noncommercial property. 4
2. The offense of criminal mischief is a class A 5
misdemeanor. 6
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