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SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 1773
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR GREGORY (21).
7485S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal section 407.020, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to unlawful
merchandising practices, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 407.020, RSMo, is repealed and one new 1
section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 407.020, 2
to read as follows:3
407.020. 1. The act, use or employment by any person 1
of any deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, 2
misrepresentation, unfair practice or the concealment, 3
suppression, or omission of any material fact in connection 4
with the sale or advertisement of any merchandise in trade 5
or commerce or the solicitation of any funds for any 6
charitable purpose, as defined in section 407.453, in or 7
from the state of Missouri, is declared to be an unlawful 8
practice. The use by any person, in connection with the 9
sale or advertisement of any merchandise in trade or 10
commerce or the solicitation of any funds for any charitable 11
purpose, as defined in section 407.453, in or from the state 12
of Missouri of the fact that the attorney general has 13
approved any filing required by this chapter as the 14
approval, sanction or endorsement of any activity, project 15
or action of such person, is declared to be an unlawful 16
practice. Any act, use or employment declared unlawful by 17
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this subsection violates this subsection whether committed 18
before, during or after the sale, advertisement or 19
solicitation. 20
2. Nothing contained in this section shall apply to: 21
(1) The owner or publisher of any newspaper, magazine, 22
publication or printed matter wherein such advertisement 23
appears, or the owner or operator of a radio or television 24
station which disseminates such advertisement when the 25
owner, publisher or operator has no knowledge of the intent, 26
design or purpose of the advertiser; 27
(2) Any institution, company, or entity that is 28
subject to chartering, licensing, or regulation by the 29
director of the department of commerce and insurance under 30
chapter 354 or chapters 374 to 385, the director of the 31
division of credit unions under chapter 370, or director of 32
the division of finance under chapters 361 to 369, or 33
chapter 371, unless such directors specifically authorize 34
the attorney general to implement the powers of this chapter 35
or such powers are provided to either the attorney general 36
or a private citizen by statute; or 37
(3) Any advertisement, merchandise, or transaction in 38
which the merchandise consists of a new residence in a 39
transaction in which the buyer is offered and accepts in the 40
sale contract an express warranty by the builder or through 41
a third-party warranty company paid for by the builder and 42
the sale contract contains substantially the following 43
disclaimer in all capital letters with characters of at 44
least ten-point type: "THIS CONTRACT, MERCHANDISE AND 45
PROPERTY CONVEYED UNDER THIS CONTRACT AND THE TRANSACTION 46
BETWEEN THE SELLER AND BUYER IS EXCLUDED FROM COVERAGE UNDER 47
THE MERCHANDISING PRACTICES ACT, SECTIONS 407.010 TO 48
407.130, RSMO.". As used in this section, the term 49
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"residence" shall mean a single-family house, duplex, 50
triplex, quadruplex, or a unit in a multiunit residential 51
structure in which title to each individual unit is 52
transferred to the owner under a condominium or cooperative 53
system and shall include common areas and common elements as 54
defined in subdivision (4) of section 448.1-103. 55
3. Any person who willfully and knowingly engages in 56
any act, use, employment or practice declared to be unlawful 57
by this section with the intent to defraud shall be guilty 58
of a class E felony. 59
4. It shall be the duty of each prosecuting attorney 60
and circuit attorney in their respective jurisdictions to 61
commence any criminal actions under this section, and the 62
attorney general shall have concurrent original jurisdiction 63
to commence such criminal actions throughout the state where 64
such violations have occurred. 65
5. It shall be an unlawful practice for any long-term 66
care facility, as defined in section 192.2300, except a 67
facility which is a residential care facility or an assisted 68
living facility, as defined in section 198.006, which makes, 69
either orally or in writing, representation to residents, 70
prospective residents, their families or representatives 71
regarding the quality of care provided, or systems or 72
methods utilized for assurance or maintenance of standards 73
of care to refuse to provide copies of documents which 74
reflect the facility's evaluation of the quality of care, 75
except that the facility may remove information that would 76
allow identification of any resident. If the facility is 77
requested to provide any copies, a reasonable amount, as 78
established by departmental rule, may be charged. 79
6. Any long-term care facility, as defined in section 80
192.2300, which commits an unlawful practice under this 81
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section shall be liable for damages in a civil action of up 82
to one thousand dollars for each violation, and attorney's 83
fees and costs incurred by a prevailing plaintiff, as 84
allowed by the circuit court. 85
7. Unlawful practices under subsection 1 of this 86
section shall include, but shall not be limited to, any 87
violation of sections 149.200 to 149.215, sections 173.600 88
to 173.618, subsection 3 of section 196.1023, section 89
304.158, subsection 2 of section 376.414, subsection 11 of 90
section 376.1850, sections 407.660 to 407.664, sections 91
407.670 to 407.678, section 407.800, sections 407.1070 to 92
407.1085, sections 407.1120 to 407.1132, sections 436.400 to 93
436.520, subdivision (3) of subsection 4 of section 643.315, 94
section 700.076, and sections 700.010 to 700.115 except as 95
provided in subsections 2 and 3 of section 700.115. 96
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