2016 -- H 7570 SUBSTITUTE A | |
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LC004474/SUB A | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2016 | |
____________ | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO COMMERCIAL LAW-GENERAL REGULATORY PROVISIONS- | |
DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES | |
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Introduced By: Representatives McKiernan, Bennett, Hull, Carnevale, and O'Brien | |
Date Introduced: February 11, 2016 | |
Referred To: House Small Business | |
(Attorney General) | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Section 6-13.1-7 of the General Laws in Chapter 6-13.1 entitled "Deceptive |
2 | Trade Practices" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 6-13.1-7. Investigations -- Procedure -- Remedies for failure to comply. -- (a) When it |
4 | appears to the attorney general that a person has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage |
5 | in, any act or practice declared to be unlawful by this chapter, or when the attorney general |
6 | believes it to be in the public interest that an investigation should be made to ascertain whether a |
7 | person in fact has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in, any act or practice declared |
8 | to be unlawful by this chapter, he or she may execute, in writing, and cause to be served upon any |
9 | person who is believed to have information, documentary material, or physical evidence relevant |
10 | to the alleged or suspected violation, an investigative demand stating the general subject matter of |
11 | the investigation and the statute and section under which the suspected violation is alleged and |
12 | require the person to furnish, under oath or otherwise, a report in writing stating the relevant facts |
13 | and circumstances of which the person has knowledge, or to appear and testify or to produce |
14 | relevant documentary material or physical evidence for examination, at any reasonable time and |
15 | place that may be stated in the investigative demand, concerning the advertisement, sale, or |
16 | offering for sale of any goods or services or the conduct of any trade or commerce that is the |
17 | subject matter of the investigation. All civil investigative demands shall may, at the discretion of |
18 | the attorney general, be filed in the superior court of the county in which the person served with |
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1 | the demand shall dwell or have his principal place of business. |
2 | (b) At any time before the return date specified in an investigative demand, or within |
3 | twenty (20) days after the demand has been served, whichever period is shorter, a petition to |
4 | extend the return date or to modify or set aside the demand, stating good cause, may be filed in |
5 | the superior court in which the person served with the demand shall dwell or have his or her |
6 | principal place of business, or in the superior court of Providence County. |
7 | (c) To accomplish the objectives and to carry out the duties prescribed by this chapter, |
8 | the attorney general, in addition to other powers conferred upon him or her by this chapter, may |
9 | issue subpoenas to any person; administer an oath or affirmation to any person; conduct hearings |
10 | in aid of any investigation or inquiry; and prescribe any forms and promulgate any rules and |
11 | regulations that may be necessary, which rules and regulations shall have the force of law; |
12 | provided that none of the powers conferred by this chapter shall be used for the purpose of |
13 | compelling any natural person to furnish testimony or evidence that might tend to incriminate the |
14 | person or subject him or her to a penalty or forfeiture; and provided further that information |
15 | obtained pursuant to the powers conferred by this chapter shall not be made public or disclosed |
16 | by the attorney general or his or her employees beyond the extent necessary for law enforcement |
17 | purposes in the public interest. |
18 | (d) Service of any notice, demand, or subpoena under this chapter shall be made |
19 | personally within this state, but if personal service cannot be obtained, substituted service may be |
20 | made in the following manner: |
21 | (1) Personal service without this state; |
22 | (2) The mailing of any notice, demand, or subpoena under this chapter by registered or |
23 | certified mail to the last known place of business, residence, or abode within or without this state |
24 | of the person for whom the service is intended; |
25 | (3) As to any person other than a natural person, in the manner provided in the rules of |
26 | civil procedure as if a complaint or other pleading which institutes a civil proceeding had been |
27 | filed; or |
28 | (4) Service that the superior court may direct in lieu of personal service within this state. |
29 | (e) A person upon whom a demand is served pursuant to the provisions of this section |
30 | shall comply with the terms of the demand unless otherwise provided by order of court. Subject |
31 | to the protections provided for in subsection (c) of this section relating to self incrimination, any |
32 | person who, with intent to avoid, evade, or prevent compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil |
33 | investigative demand under this section, removes from any place, conceals, withholds, or |
34 | destroys, mutilates, alters, or by any other means falsifies any documentary material in the |
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1 | possession, custody, or control of any person subject of any demand, or knowingly conceals any |
2 | relevant information, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000). |
3 | (f) If any person fails or refuses to file any statement or report, or obey any subpoena or |
4 | investigative demand issued by the attorney general, the attorney general may file in the superior |
5 | court of the county in which the person shall dwell or be found; or has his or her principal place |
6 | of business; or of Providence County, if the superior court at the previously mentioned county |
7 | shall not be in session, or if the person is a nonresident or has no principal place of business in |
8 | this state; or of the other county as may be agreed upon by the parties to the petition; and serve |
9 | upon the person a petition for an order of the court for the enforcement of this section, and the |
10 | petition may request and the court shall have jurisdiction to grant after notice and a hearing, an |
11 | order: |
12 | (1) Granting injunctive relief to restrain the person from engaging in the advertising or |
13 | sale of any merchandise or the conduct of any trade or commerce that is involved in the alleged or |
14 | suspected violation; |
15 | (2) Vacating, annulling, or suspending the corporate charter of a corporation created by |
16 | or under the laws of this state or revoking or suspending the certificate of authority to do business |
17 | in this state of a foreign corporation or revoking or suspending any other licenses, permits, or |
18 | certificates issued pursuant to law to the person that are used to further the allegedly unlawful |
19 | practice; and |
20 | (3) Granting any other relief that may be required, until the person files the statement or |
21 | report, or obeys the subpoena or investigative demand. |
22 | (g) Any final order so entered shall be subject to appeal to the state supreme court. Any |
23 | disobedience of any final order entered under this section by any court shall be punished as a |
24 | contempt of court. |
25 | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC004474/SUB A | |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO COMMERCIAL LAW-GENERAL REGULATORY PROVISIONS- | |
DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES | |
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1 | This act would make discretionary the formerly mandatory requirement that civil |
2 | investigative demands of alleged deceptive trade practices be filed in the superior court. |
3 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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LC004474/SUB A | |
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