Bill Text: PA HB1465 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Further providing for deceptive or fraudulent business practices; and providing for damages for misrepresentation of home loan principal, outstanding balance or interest.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-05-07 - Referred to COMMERCE [HB1465 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-HB1465-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 1809
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1465 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY CREIGHTON, BEYER, BOYD, EVERETT, FREEMAN, GEIST, GEORGE, GROVE, HARHART, HARPER, HELM, HENNESSEY, HESS, KOTIK, MANDERINO, MANN, METZGAR, MILLER, MOUL, MURT, M. O'BRIEN, PALLONE, PHILLIPS, DENLINGER, RAPP, REICHLEY, SANTONI, SIPTROTH, STURLA, SWANGER AND WANSACZ, MAY 7, 2009
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, MAY 7, 2009
AN ACT
Amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 42 (Judiciary and
Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes, further providing for deceptive or fraudulent
business practices; and providing for damages for
misrepresentation of home loan principal, outstanding balance
or interest.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 4107(a) and (a.1) of Title 18 of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
§ 4107. Deceptive or fraudulent business practices.
(a) Offense defined.--A person commits an offense if, in the
course of business, the person:
(1) uses or possesses for use a false weight or measure,
or any other device for falsely determining or recording any
quality or quantity;
(2) sells, offers or exposes for sale, or delivers less
than the represented quantity of any commodity or service;
(3) takes or attempts to take more than the represented
quantity of any commodity or service when as buyer he
furnishes the weight or measure;
(4) sells, offers or exposes for sale adulterated or
mislabeled commodities. As used in this paragraph, the term
"adulterated" means varying from the standard of composition
or quality prescribed by or pursuant to any statute providing
criminal penalties for such variance or set by established
commercial usage. As used in this paragraph, the term
"mislabeled" means varying from the standard of trust or
disclosure in labeling prescribed by or pursuant to any
statute providing criminal penalties for such variance or set
by established commercial usage;
(5) makes a false or misleading statement in any
advertisement addressed to the public or to a substantial
segment thereof for the purpose of promoting the purchase or
sale of property or services;
(6) makes or induces others to rely on a false or
misleading written statement for the purpose of obtaining
property or credit;
(7) makes or induces others to rely on a false or
misleading written statement for the purpose of promoting the
sale of securities, or omits information required by law to
be disclosed in written documents relating to securities;
(8) makes or induces others to rely on a false or
misleading material statement to induce an investor to invest
in a business venture. The offense is complete when any false
or misleading material statement is communicated to an
investor regardless of whether any investment is made. For
purposes of grading, the "amount involved" is the amount or
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value of the investment solicited or paid, whichever is
greater. As used in this paragraph, the following words and
phrases shall mean: "Amount" as used in the definition of
"material statement" includes currency values and comparative
expressions of value, including, but not limited to,
percentages or multiples. "Business venture" means any
venture represented to an investor as one where he may
receive compensation either from the sale of a product, from
the investment of other investors or from any other
commercial enterprise. "Compensation" means anything of value
received or to be received by an investor. "Invest" means to
pay, give or lend money, property, service or other thing of
value for the opportunity to receive compensation. The term
also includes payment for the purchase of a product.
"Investment" means the money, property, service or other
thing of value paid or given, or to be paid or given, for the
opportunity to receive compensation. "Investor" means any
natural person, partnership, corporation, limited liability
company, business trust, other association, government
entity, estate, trust, foundation or other entity solicited
to invest in a business venture, regardless of whether any
investment is made. "Material statement" means a statement
about any matter which could affect an investor's decision to
invest in a business venture, including, but not limited to,
statements about:
(i) the existence, value, availability or
marketability of a product;
(ii) the number of former or current investors, the
amount of their investments or the amount of their former
or current compensation;
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(iii) the available pool or number of prospective
investors, including those who have not yet been
solicited and those who already have been solicited but
have not yet made an investment;
(iv) representations of future compensation to be
received by investors or prospective investors; or
(v) the source of former, current or future
compensation paid or to be paid to investors or
prospective investors.
"Product" means a good, a service or other tangible or
intangible property of any kind;
(9) obtains or attempts to obtain property of another by
false or misleading representations made through
communications conducted in whole or in part by telephone
involving the following:
(i) express or implied claims that the person
contacted has won or is about to win a prize;
(ii) express or implied claims that the person
contacted may be able to recover any losses suffered in
connection with a prize promotion; or
(iii) express or implied claims regarding the value
of goods or services offered in connection with a prize
or a prize promotion.
As used in this paragraph, the term "prize" means
anything of value offered or purportedly offered. The term
"prize promotion" means an oral or written express or implied
representation that a person has won, has been selected to
receive or may be eligible to receive a prize or purported
prize;
(10) knowingly makes a false or misleading statement in
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a privacy policy, published on the Internet or otherwise
distributed or published, regarding the use of personal
information submitted by members of the public; [or]
(11) does either of the following when the person is in
a client relationship with a certified public accountant,
public accountant or public accounting firm:
(i) provides false or misleading information to the
certified public accountant, public accountant or public
accounting firm in connection with performance of an
attestation function for the client which results in an
attestation by the certified public accountant, public
accountant or public accounting firm of a materially
misleading financial statement, audit, review or other
document; or
(ii) fails to provide information to the certified
public accountant, public accountant or public accounting
firm which the person knows is material to the
performance of an attestation function and which results
in an attestation by the certified public accountant,
public accountant or public accounting firm of a
materially misleading financial statement, audit, review
or other document[.]; or
(12) makes a false or misleading statement to a borrower
regarding the amount of principal, outstanding balance or
interest owed on a home loan.
(a.1) Grading of offenses.--
(1) A violation of this section, except for subsection
(a)(10) and (12), constitutes:
(i) a felony of the third degree if the amount
involved exceeds $2,000;
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(ii) a misdemeanor of the first degree if the amount
involved is $200 or more but $2,000 or less;
(iii) a misdemeanor of the second degree if the
amount involved is less than $200; or
(iv) when the amount involved cannot be
satisfactorily ascertained, the offense constitutes a
misdemeanor of the second degree.
(2) Amounts involved in deceptive or fraudulent business
practices pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct,
whether from the same person or several persons, may be
aggregated in determining the grade of the offense.
(3) Where a person commits an offense under subsection
(a) and the victim of the offense is 60 years of age or
older, the grading of the offense shall be one grade higher
than specified in paragraph (1).
(4) An offense under subsection (a)(10) shall be a
summmary offense and shall be punishable by a fine not less
than $50 and not to exceed $500.
(5) An offense under subsection (a)(12) shall be a
felony of the third degree if the amount involved exceeds
$2,000 and shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment, the
minimum of which shall be not less than five years.
* * *
Section 2. Title 42 is amended by adding a section to read:
§ 8304.1. Damages for misrepresentation of home loan principal,
outstanding balance or interest.
(a) General rule.--In a civil action to recover damages and
costs following a conviction for a deceptive or fraudulent
business practice pursuant to 18 Pa.C.S. § 4107(a)(12) (relating
to deceptive or fraudulent business practices) and failure to
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make full restitution, the borrower shall, upon obtaining
judgment, be entitled to recover damages in an amount equal to
triple the amount of the claim.
(b) Restriction.--If partial restitution has been made,
damages recovered under this section may not exceed triple the
amount of the unpaid restitution.
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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