Title 59.1, Title 59.1. Trade and Commerce

In addition to the definitions in § 59.1-435, the following terms in this chapter shall have the following meanings, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context: "Contract holder" means a person entering into a subscription contract with an organization; "Departme…

A. It is unlawful for any legal services plan seller to offer, advertise, or execute, or cause to be executed by the subscriber, any subscription contract in the Commonwealth unless the legal services plan seller at the time of the offer, advertisement, sale, or execution of a su…

The Board is authorized to prescribe reasonable regulations in order to implement provisions in this chapter relating to legal services plan sellers. These regulations shall be adopted, amended, or repealed in accordance with the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.).

A. The Commissioner may, with respect to the offering of subscription contracts: 1. Make necessary public and private investigations within or without the Commonwealth to determine whether any person has violated the provisions of this chapter or any rule, regulation, or order is…

Every legal services plan seller shall, upon written request of the Commissioner, make available to the Commissioner its legal services plan contract records for inspection and copying to enable the Commissioner to reasonably determine compliance with this chapter. Every legal se…

A. Any legal services plan seller who knowingly and willfully violates any provision of this chapter is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. B. Any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a prohibited practice pursuant to the provisions of § 59.1-200 and shall be…

A. No merchant, without giving notice to the purchaser, shall sell to any third person information that concerns the purchaser and that is gathered in connection with the sale, rental, or exchange of tangible personal property to the purchaser at the merchant's place of business.…

Section 59.1-442 shall not apply to: (i) information gathered for purposes of extending credit or the recording and sale, rental, exchange or disclosure to others of information obtained from any public body as defined in the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq…

A. As used in this section: "Check" shall have the same meaning as defined in § 8.3A-104. B. Except as provided in subsection C, no person who accepts checks for the transaction of business shall, as a condition of accepting the check, record, or request or require a person to re…

A. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, a person shall not: 1. Intentionally communicate another individual's social security number to the general public; 2. Print an individual's social security number on any card required for the individual to access or receive pr…

A. No merchant may scan the machine-readable zone of a driver's license or other document issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles under Chapter 3 (§ 46.2-300 et seq.) of Title 46.2 or the comparable law of another jurisdiction, except for the following purposes: 1. To verify a…

A person aggrieved by a violation of any provision of this chapter, except § 59.1-443.2, shall be entitled to institute an action to recover damages in the amount of $100 per violation. In addition, if the aggrieved party prevails, he may be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and…

As used in this chapter: "Collection entity" means any person that purchases debt or collects debt on behalf of another entity. "Consumer" means an individual who is also a resident of the Commonwealth. "Consumer report" has the same meaning as provided in § 603(d) of the federal…

A. As used in this section, "security freeze" means a notice placed in a consumer's credit report, at the request of the consumer and subject to certain exceptions, that prohibits the consumer reporting agency from releasing the consumer's credit report or score relating to the e…

A. As used in this section, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Protected consumer" means a consumer who is either: 1. Under the age of 16 years at the time a request for the placement of a security freeze is made; or 2. An incapacitated person for whom a guardian o…

A. No medical care facility listed in § 32.1-102.1:3, no person licensed or certified by a health regulatory board within the Department of Health Professions, and no emergency medical services agency, as defined in § 32.1-111.1, shall report any portion of a medical debt to a co…

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Accommodations" means any real property improvement provided by the travel club to its members for lodging purposes, including, without limitation, condominiums, hotels, motels or motor courts. "Board" mea…

A. It shall be unlawful for any travel club to offer or cause to be executed in this Commonwealth by the purchaser any travel services agreement unless such travel club at the time of such offering, or execution thereof has been properly registered with the Commissioner. Such reg…

A. Every travel club, before entering into a travel services agreement with a purchaser of travel services, shall file and maintain with the Commissioner, in a form and substance satisfactory to him, a bond with corporate surety from a company authorized to transact business in t…

A. Any deposit made in connection with the execution of a travel services agreement shall be held in escrow. All cash deposits shall be held in a separate bank account labeled and designated solely for that purpose. Such escrow account shall be insured by an instrumentality of th…

A. The travel services agreement shall contain a written disclosure of all limitations on and terms of the membership and shall be provided to the purchaser at the time the agreement is executed. The disclosure shall clearly and conspicuously include: 1. The name, business addres…

A. The travel club shall prepare and distribute to any prospective purchaser, before execution thereby of a travel services agreement, a public offering statement which discloses fully and accurately the characteristics of the travel club and its travel services, the membership o…

It shall be unlawful for any travel club to engage in any or all of the following practices: 1. Offer any other type of promotional inducement where the cost of the package equals or exceeds the cost which would have been incurred without the travel club membership; 2. Misreprese…

The Board is authorized to prescribe reasonable regulations in order to implement the provisions of this chapter. These regulations shall be adopted, amended, or repealed in accordance with the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.).

A. The Commissioner may, with respect to a travel club or travel services agreements: 1. Make necessary public and private investigations within or without this Commonwealth to determine whether any person has violated, or is about to violate, the provisions of this chapter or an…

Every travel club, upon written request of the Commissioner, shall make available to the Commissioner its travel-services records for inspection and copying to enable the Commissioner to reasonably determine compliance with this chapter. Every club promoter shall maintain a true …

This chapter shall not apply to: 1. Any agreement which meets the definition of "contract" under, and is subject to, the provisions of the Virginia Real Estate Time-Share Act (§ 55.1-2200 et seq.) or the Virginia Membership Camping Act (§ 59.1-311 et seq.); or 2. An "exchange pro…

Any violation of the provisions of this chapter or any travel services agreement executed therewith shall constitute a prohibited practice pursuant to the provisions of § 59.1-200 and shall be subject to any and all of the enforcement provisions of the Virginia Consumer Protectio…

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Commission" means compensation accruing to a sales representative for payment by a principal, the rate of which is expressed as a percentage of the total dollar amount of orders or sales or as a specified …

When a principal contracts with a sales representative to solicit wholesale orders within this Commonwealth, such contract shall (i) be in writing, (ii) disclose the method by which the commission is to be computed and paid, (iii) disclose the territory of the sales representativ…

A. Every sales representative shall be paid the earned commission and all other compensation earned or payable in accordance with the terms of the contract. B. When a contract between a principal and a sales representative is terminated, for any reason, except by mutual agreement…

Any provision of any agreement intending to waive the rights of any party to any provision of this chapter shall be void.

The failure to execute a contract as required by § 59.1-456 shall not constitute an affirmative defense in any action relating to the provisions of this chapter.

As used in this chapter: "Copyright owner" means the owner of a copyright of a nondramatic musical or similar work recognized and enforceable under the copyright laws of the United States pursuant to Title 17 of the United States Code, P.L. 94-553 (17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq.). "Perf…

No performing rights society shall enter into, or offer to enter into, a contract for the payment of royalties by a proprietor unless at the time of the offer, or any time thereafter, but no later than seventy-two hours prior to the execution of that contract, it provides to the …

Every contract for the payment of royalties between a proprietor and a performing rights society executed, issued or renewed in the Commonwealth on or after July 1, 1995, shall be: 1. In writing; 2. Signed by the parties; 3. Written to include, at a minimum, the following informa…

A. No performing rights society or any agent or employee thereof shall: 1. Enter onto the premises of a proprietor's business for the purpose of discussing or inquiring about a contract for the payment of royalties with the proprietor or his employees, without first identifying h…

Any person who suffers a violation of this chapter may bring an action to recover actual damages and reasonable attorney's fees and seek an injunction or any other remedy available at law or in equity.

The rights, remedies and prohibitions contained in this chapter shall be in addition to and cumulative of any other right, remedy or prohibition accorded by common law, federal law or the statutes of the Commonwealth, and nothing contained herein shall be construed to deny, abrog…

This chapter shall not apply to contracts between copyright owners or performing rights societies and broadcasters licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, or to contracts with cable operators, programmers or other transmission services. Nor shall this chapter apply to …

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Performing group" means a vocal or instrumental group seeking to use the name of another group that has previously released a commercial sound recording under that name. "Recording group" means a vocal or …

It shall be unlawful for any performer or performing group, or its agent, to advertise or conduct a live musical performance or production in the Commonwealth through the use of an affiliation, connection, or association, known to be false, deceptive or misleading, with the inten…

Whenever an attorney for the Commonwealth has reason to believe that any performer or performing group, or its agent, is advertising or conducting, or is about to advertise or conduct, a live musical performance or production in violation of § 59.1-466.2 and that proceedings woul…

Any performer or performing group, or its agent, who violates § 59.1-466.2 shall be liable to the Commonwealth for a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 nor more than $15,000 per violation, which civil penalty shall be in addition to any other relief that may be granted under §…

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Event" means any professional concert, live entertainment event, professional sporting or athletic event, or professional theatrical production open to the public for which tickets are ordinarily sold. "In…

A. No person that issues tickets for admission to an event shall issue any such ticket solely through a delivery method that substantially prevents the purchaser of the ticket from lawfully reselling the ticket on the Internet ticketing platform of the ticket purchaser's choice. …