Section 436.570

Title XXVIII CONTRACTS AND CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS

Chapter 436

Effective - 28 Aug 2023   

  436.570.  License required, procedure — supervision and enforcement — cease and desist orders, civil penalty — license sanctions, when — examination and investigation of company, when — rulemaking authority. — 1.  A consumer legal funding company shall not engage in the business of consumer legal funding in this state unless it has first obtained a license from the division of finance.

  2.  A consumer legal funding company's initial or renewal license application shall be in writing, made under oath, and on a form provided by the director.

  3.  Every consumer legal funding company, at the time of filing a license application, shall pay the sum of five hundred fifty dollars for the period ending the thirtieth day of June next following the date of payment; thereafter, a like fee shall be paid on or before June thirtieth of each year and shall be credited to the division of finance fund established under section 361.170.

  4.  A consumer legal funding license shall not be issued unless the division of finance, upon investigation, finds that the character and fitness of the applicant company, and of the officers and directors thereof, are such as to warrant belief that the business shall operate honestly and fairly within the purposes of sections 436.550 to 436.572.

  5.  Every applicant shall also, at the time of filing such application, file a bond satisfactory to the division of finance in an amount not to exceed fifty thousand dollars.  The bond shall provide that the applicant shall faithfully conform to and abide by the provisions of sections 436.550 to 436.572, to all rules lawfully made by the director under sections 436.550 to 436.572, and the bond shall act as a surety for any person or the state for any and all amount of moneys that may become due or owing from the applicant under and by virtue of sections 436.550 to 436.572, which shall include the result of any action that occurred while the bond was in place for the applicable period of limitations under statute and so long as the bond is not exhausted by valid claims.

  6.  If an action is commenced on a licensee's bond, the director may require the filing^* of a new bond.  Immediately upon any recovery on the bond, the licensee shall file a new bond.

  7.  To ensure the effective supervision and enforcement of sections 436.550 to 436.572, the director may, under chapter 536:

  (1)  Deny, suspend, revoke, condition, or decline to renew a license for a violation of sections 436.550 to 436.572, rules issued under sections 436.550 to 436.572, or order or directive entered under sections 436.550 to 436.572;

  (2)  Deny, suspend, revoke, condition, or decline to renew a license if an applicant or licensee fails at any time to meet the requirements of sections 436.550 to 436.572, or withholds information or makes a material misstatement in an application for a license or renewal of a license;

  (3)  Order restitution against persons subject to sections 436.550 to 436.572 for violations of sections 436.550 to 436.572; and

  (4)  Order or direct such other affirmative action as the director deems necessary.

  8.  Any letter issued by the director and declaring grounds for denying or declining to grant or renew a license may be appealed to the circuit court of Cole County.  All other matters presenting a contested case involving a licensee may be heard by the director under chapter 536.

  9.  Notwithstanding the prior approval requirement of subsection 1 of this section, a consumer legal funding company that has applied with the division of finance between August 28, 2023, or when the division of finance has made applications available to the public, whichever is later, and six months thereafter may engage in consumer legal funding while the license application of the company or an affiliate of the company is awaiting approval by the division of finance and until such time as the applicant has pursued all appellate remedies and procedures for any denial of such application.  All funding contracts in effect prior to August 28, 2023, are not subject to the terms of sections 436.550 to 436.572.

  10.  If it appears to the director that any consumer legal funding company is failing, refusing, or neglecting to make a good faith effort to comply with the provisions of sections 436.550 to 436.572, or any laws or rules relating to consumer legal funding, the director may issue an order to cease and desist, which may be enforceable by a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars per day for each day that the neglect, failure, or refusal continues.  The penalty shall be assessed and collected by the director.  In determining the amount of the penalty, the director shall take into account the appropriateness of the penalty with respect to the gravity of the violation, any history of previous violations, and any other matters justice may require.

  11.  If any consumer legal funding company fails, refuses, or neglects to comply with the provisions of sections 436.550 to 436.572, or of any laws or rules relating to consumer legal funding, its license may be suspended or revoked by order of the director after a hearing before said director on any order to show cause why such order of suspension or revocation should not be entered and that specifies the grounds therefor.  Such an order shall be served on the particular consumer legal funding company at least ten days prior to the hearing.  Any order made and entered by the director may be appealed to the circuit court of Cole County.

  12.  (1)  The division shall conduct an examination of each consumer funding company at least once every twenty-four months and at such other times as the director may determine.

  (2)  For any such investigation or examination, the director and his or her representatives shall have free and immediate access to the place or places of business and the books and records, and shall have the authority to place under oath all persons whose testimony may be required relative to the affairs and business of the consumer legal funding company.

  (3)  The director may also make such special investigations or examination as the director deems necessary to determine whether any consumer legal funding company has violated any of the provisions of sections 436.550 to 436.572 or rules promulgated thereunder, and the director may assess the reasonable costs of any investigation or examination incurred by the division to the company.

  13.  The division of finance shall have the authority to promulgate rules to carry out the provisions of sections 436.550 to 436.572.  Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028.  This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2023, shall be invalid and void.

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(L. 2023 S.B. 103)

*Word "filling" appears in original rolls.