West Virginia Code 59-3-7 – Criminal and civil penalties
(a) Any person who publishes a legal advertisement and who knowingly refused to file with the Secretary of State the affidavit for the fiscal year in which the legal advertisement was published, as required by the provisions of section three of this article, or to make and furnish the affidavit required by the provisions of section four of this article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 59-3-7
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Legal advertisement: means any notice, advertisement, statement, information or other matter required by law or court to be published. See West Virginia Code 59-3-1
- Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(b) Any person who shall knowingly file a false affidavit required by the provisions of this article shall be guilty of false swearing, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided for that offense.
(c) Any qualified newspaper which shall knowingly charge any rates in excess of those specified in section three of this article, and any newspaper which shall knowingly charge any rates in excess of those specified in section six of this article, as the case may be, shall be liable to the person damaged thereby for treble damages.