H. B. 2067
(By Delegate Louisos)
[Introduced February 14, 2001; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend article eleven-a, chapter forty-seven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
three-a, relating to unfair trade practices; providing that
predatory pricing is unlawful; providing criminal penalty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article eleven-a, chapter forty-seven of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
three-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11A. UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES.
§47-11A-3a. When discrimination in pricing prohibited; penalty.
It is unlawful for any retailer or wholesaler to engage in the
predatory pricing of goods. As used in the section, "predatory
pricing" means discrimination in price between different purchasers
of goods of like grade and quality, where the effect of the
discrimination is to injure competitors and destroy competition.
The term "predatory pricing" does not include: (1) Differences in
price that make allowance for differences in the cost of
manufacture, sale, or delivery resulting from different methods or
quantities in which goods are sold and delivered, when quantities
do not exceed limits for a particular commodity or class of
commodities set by the Federal Trade Commission; (2) price changes
in response to changing conditions affecting the market for or
marketability of the goods; or (3) sales in good faith in
discontinuance of business in the goods concerned. Nothing in this
section prohibits retailers or wholesalers from selecting their own
customers, when selection of customers is otherwise lawful and is
not in violation of federal law governing restraint of trade. Any
person resorting to the practice of predatory pricing is guilty of
a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, is subject to the penalty set
forth in section eleven of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that certain
discriminatory pricing practices prohibited under the federal
Robinson-Patman Act are also unlawful under West Virginia law.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.