WEST VIRGINIA CODE
WVC 32 A-
CHAPTER 32A. LAND SALES; FALSE ADVERTISING; ISSUANCE
AND SALE OF CHECKS, DRAFTS, MONEY ORDERS, ETC.
WVC 32 A- 1 -
ARTICLE 1. LAND SALES; FALSE ADVERTISING.
WVC 32 A- 1 - 1
§32A-1-1. Filing and registration with respect to lands
prerequisite to sale, etc., within state.
No person, partnership or corporation shall sell or offer
for sale, in this state, any lands, situate outside this state,
which are to be planted in trees or vines or divided into town or
suburban lots, or any unimproved or undeveloped lands, or any
lands, including cemetery lots, cemetery privileges, burial
rights or privileges, the value of which materially depends on
the future performance of any stipulation or promise to furnish
irrigation, transportation facilities, streets, sidewalks,
sewers, gas, electricity or other value enhancing utility or
improvement of any undivided part or share, whether an aliquot
part or a part designated on any other basis, or any mine,
mineral claim, or other estate in any mine, or in the lands
containing the same, regardless of where located or situated, the
value of which materially depends on the future discovery or
development and production of the minerals, without first having
filed with the commissioner of securities (which office is
established in chapter thirty-two of this code) a detailed
description of the property which, or any interest or part or
share of which, is proposed to be sold, and such information with
respect to the value thereof, and the title to such property or
properties as the commissioner of securities shall require, and
without causing such property to be registered by the
commissioner of securities in the manner provided for the
registration of securities by qualification under section three
hundred four, article three, chapter thirty-two of this code; and no person shall sell or offer any such property for sale until he
has been registered as a salesman by the commissioner of
securities under the provisions for registering agents contained
in article two, chapter thirty-two of this code. All of the
provisions contained in chapter thirty-two of this code governing
the registration of securities by qualification and the
registration of agents and the penalties provided therein shall
apply to the registration of properties and salesmen under this
article:
Provided, That nothing contained in this article shall
prevent any bona fide owner of any such land, mine, mining lease,
mineral claim or other property, or interest therein, from
selling the same on his own account and not as a part, or in
furtherance, of any promotion or development to the public.
WVC 32 A- 1 - 2
§32A-1-2. False advertising prohibited; penalty.
Any person or corporation who, with intent to sell or in
anywise dispose of merchandise, securities, service or anything
offered by such person or corporation, directly or indirectly, to
the public for sale or distribution, or with intent to increase
the consumption thereof, or to induce the public in any manner to
enter into any obligation relating thereto, or to acquire title
thereto, or any interest therein, makes, publishes, disseminates,
circulates or places before the public, or causes, directly or
indirectly, to be made, published, disseminated, circulated or
placed before the public in this state, in a newspaper or other
publication, or in the form of a book, notice, handbill, poster,
blueprint, map, bill, tag, label, circular, pamphlet, or letter,
or by way of radio or television, or in any other way, an
advertisement of any sort regarding merchandise, securities,
service, land, lot or anything so offered to the public, which
advertisement contains any promise, assertion, representation or
statement of fact which is untrue, deceptive or misleading, with
knowledge that the same was untrue, deceptive or misleading,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars, or imprisoned
in the county jail not more than six months, or both fined and
imprisoned.
WVC 32 A- 1 - 3
§32A-1-3. Indictment need not negative exceptions.
In any indictment for violation of any provision of this
article, it shall not be necessary to negative any exception
contained in any proviso or elsewhere in this article.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session