SECOND REGULAR SESSION
93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES DAKE (Sponsor), KUESSNER, HENKE, ROBINSON, WALSH, LAMPE, SHOEMYER, BRINGER, WITTE, SWINGER, HARRIS (110), AULL, McGHEE, BAKER (25), WHORTON AND SATER (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time March 6, 2006 and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 578.409, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the punishment for damage to an animal facility, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 578.409, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 578.409, to read as follows:
578.409. 1. Any person who violates section 578.407:
(1) Shall be guilty of a misdemeanor for each such violation unless the loss, theft, or damage to the animal facility exceeds [three] two hundred dollars in value;
(2) Shall be guilty of a class D felony if the loss, theft, or damage to the animal facility property exceeds [three] two hundred dollars in value but does not exceed [ten] five thousand dollars in value;
(3) Shall be guilty of a class C felony if the loss, theft, or damage to the animal facility property exceeds [ten] five thousand dollars in value but does not exceed [one hundred] seventy-five thousand dollars in value;
(4) Shall be guilty of a class B felony if the loss, theft, or damage to the animal facility exceeds [one hundred] seventy-five thousand dollars in value.
2. Any person who intentionally agrees with another person to violate section 578.407 and commits an act in furtherance of such violation shall be guilty of the same class of violation as provided in subsection 1 of this section.
3. In the determination of the value of the loss, theft, or damage to an animal facility, the court shall conduct a hearing to determine the reasonable cost of replacement of materials, data, equipment, animals, and records that were damaged, destroyed, lost, or cannot be returned, as well as the reasonable cost of lost production funds and repeating experimentation that may have been disrupted or invalidated as a result of the violation of section 578.407.
4. Any persons found guilty of a violation of section 578.407 shall be ordered by the court to make restitution, jointly and severally, to the owner, operator, or both, of the animal facility, in the full amount of the reasonable cost as determined under subsection 3 of this section.
5. Any person who has been damaged by a violation of section 578.407 may recover all actual and consequential damages, punitive damages, and court costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, from the person causing such damage.
6. Nothing in sections 578.405 to 578.412 shall preclude any animal facility injured in its business or property by a violation of section 578.407 from seeking appropriate relief under any other provision of law or remedy including the issuance of an injunction against any person who violates section 578.407. The owner or operator of the animal facility may petition the court to permanently enjoin such persons from violating sections 578.405 to 578.412 and the court shall provide such relief.
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