NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1959 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 240

HOUSE BILL 247

 

 

AN ACT TO PREVENT FALSE ADVERTISING AS TO GOING-OUT-OF­BUSINESS SALES IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1. For the purposes of this Act "closing-out sale" shall mean and include all sales advertised, represented or held forth under the designation of "going-out-of -business", "discontinuance of business", "selling out", "liquidation", "lost our lease", "must vacate", "forced out", "removal", or any other designation of like meaning; and "person" shall mean and include individuals, partnerships, voluntary associations and corporations.

Sec. 2. (a) No person shall advertise or offer for sale a stock of goods, wares or merchandise under the description of closing-out sale, or a sale of goods, wares or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water or otherwise, unless he shall have obtained a license to conduct such sale from the county treasurer. The applicant for such a license shall make to the county treasurer an application therefor, in writing and under oath at least seven (7) days prior to the opening date of sale, showing all the facts relating to the reasons and character of such sale, including the opening and terminating dates of the proposed sale, a complete inventory of the goods, wares or merchandise actually on hand in the place whereat such sale is to be conducted, and all details necessary to locate exactly and identify fully the goods, wares or merchandise to be sold.

(b)       If the county treasurer shall be satisfied from said application that the proposed sale is of the character which the applicant desires to advertise and conduct, the county treasurer shall issue a license, upon the payment of a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) therefor, together with a bond, payable to the county in the penal sum of five hundred dollars ($500.00), conditioned upon compliance with this Article, to the applicant authorizing him to advertise and conduct a sale of the particular kind mentioned in the application; provided, however, that the license fee provided for herein shall be good for a period of thirty (30) days from its date, and if the applicant shall not complete said sale within said thirty (30) day period then the applicant shall make application to the county treasurer for a license for a new permit, which shall be good for an additional period of thirty (30) days, and shall pay therefor the sum of fifty dollars ($50.00); and provided further a second extension period of thirty (30) days may be similarly applied for and granted by the county treasurer upon payment of an additional fee of fifty dollars ($50.00) and upon the county treasurer being satisfied that the applicant is holding a bona fide sale of the kind contemplated by this Article and is acting in a bona fide manner. No additional bond shall be required in the event of one or more extensions as herein provided for. Any merchant who shall have been conducting a business in the same location where the sale is to be held for a period of not less than one year, prior to the date of holding such sale, or any merchant who shall have been conducting a business in one location for such period but who shall, by reason of the building being untenantable or by reason of the fact that said merchant shall have no existing lease or ownership of the building and shall be forced to hold such sale at another location, shall be exempted from the payment of the fees and the filing of the bond herein provided for.

(c)       The county treasurer to whom application is made shall endorse upon such application the date of its filing, and shall preserve the same as a record of his office, and shall make an abstract of the facts set forth in such application, and shall indicate whether the license was granted or refused.

(d)       Any person making a false statement in the application provided for in this Section shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of perjury.

Sec. 3. No person in contemplation of a closing-out sale under a license as provided for in Section 2 shall order any goods, wares or merchandise for the purpose of selling and disposing of the same at such sale, and any unusual purchase and additions to the stock of such goods, wares or merchandise within sixty (60) days prior to the filing of application for a license to conduct such sale shall be presumptive evidence that such purchases and additions to stock were made in contemplation of such sale.

Sec. 4. No person carrying on or conducting a closing-out sale or a sale of goods, wares or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water or otherwise, under a license as provided in Section 2 shall, during the continuance of such sale, add any goods, wares or merchandise to the damaged stock inventoried in his original application for such license, and no goods, wares or merchandise shall be sold as damaged merchandise at or during such sale, excepting the goods, wares or merchandise described and inventoried in such original application.

Sec. 5. No person shall conduct a closing-out sale or a sale of goods, wares or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water or otherwise beyond the termination date specified for such sale, except as otherwise provided for in subsection (b) of Section 2; nor shall any person, upon conclusion of such sale, continue that business which had been represented as closing out or going out of business under the same name, or under a different name, at the same location, or elsewhere in the county; nor shall any person, upon conclusion of such sale, continue business contrary to the designation of such sale.

Sec. 6. Any person who shall advertise, hold, conduct or carry on any sale of goods, wares or merchandise under the description of closing-out sale or a sale of goods, wares or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water or otherwise, contrary to the provisions of this Article, or who shall violate any of the provisions of this Article shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined or imprisoned, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 7. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to sheriffs, constables or other public or court officers' or to any other person or persons acting under the license, direction or authority of any court, State or Federal, selling goods, wares or merchandise in the course of their official duties; provided, however, that no newspaper publisher, radio broadcast licensee, television broadcast licensee, or other agency or medium for the dissemination of advertising shall be liable under this Article by reason of the dissemination of any false advertisement prohibited by this Article, unless he has refused, on the written request of any law enforcement officer or agency of this State, to furnish to such officer or agency the name and address of the person who caused the dissemination of such advertisement.

Sec. 8. Upon complaint of any person the Superior Court shall have jurisdiction to restrain and enjoin any act forbidden or declared illegal by any provisions of this Article.

Sec. 9. The provisions of this Act shall apply only to Cumberland County.

Sec. 10. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 11. This Act shall become effective upon its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 7th day of April, 1959.