Missouri Laws 379.901 – Prepaid service plan defined — agent soliciting memberships, disclosures
1. As used in this section the term “prepaid legal service plan” means any person, company, corporation, partnership or other legal entity who collects periodic fees on a prepaid basis from residents of this state in connection with legal coverage other than:
(1) Retainer contracts made by attorneys-at-law with an individual client with fees based on estimates of the nature and amount of legal services to be provided to that specific client and similar contracts made with a group of clients involved in the same or closely related legal matters;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 379.901
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Department: the department of commerce and insurance. See Missouri Laws 379.005
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
(2) Any lawyer aid or other legal services program for the indigent;
(3) Any employer-employee welfare benefit plans to the extent that state laws are superseded by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1144, or any amendments thereto, provided evidence of exemption from state law is shown to the department;
(4) The furnishing of legal assistance by labor unions and other employee organizations to their members in matters relating to employment or occupations;
(5) The furnishing of legal assistance to members or their dependents by churches, cooperatives, educational institutions, credit unions, labor unions or other organizations of employees, where such organizations contract with and pay directly a lawyer or law firm for the provision of legal services, where the assistance is provided as an incident to membership and not on the basis of an optional fee or charge and the administration of such program of legal assistance is wholly conducted by the organization;
(6) Legal services provided by an agency of the federal or state government or a subdivision thereof to its employees.
2. Any person who solicits memberships on behalf of a prepaid legal services plan shall disclose to the consumer in writing that a prepaid legal services plan is not an insurance product and is not regulated by the department of commerce and insurance.