Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.17 – Escrow account; establishment; claims for damages
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.17
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Developer: means the person, or any successor or assignee of such person, who creates the timeshare plan or who is in the business of making sales of timeshare interests which it owns or purports to own. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
- Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
- 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.
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Owner: means any person who owns or is a co-owner of a timeshare interest. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
- Project: includes but is not limited to condominiums and cooperative housing corporations. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
- Purchaser: means any person to whom a timeshare interest is offered or who has contracted to purchase a timeshare interest. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
- Timeshare interest: means an ownership "timeshare interest" a lease timeshare interest, a timeshare estate, and a timeshare use unless expressly provided otherwise and includes any of the following:
(a) A "timeshare estate" which is the right to occupy a timeshare property, coupled with present ownership or some right to future ownership in a timeshare property or a specified portion thereof. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
- Timeshare plan: means any arrangement, plan, scheme, or similar device, other than an exchange program, whether by membership agreement, sale, lease, license, other act of conveyance, or right-to-use agreement or by any other means, whereby a purchaser, in exchange for consideration, receives ownership rights in or the right to use accommodations for a period of time less than a full year during any given year, but not necessarily for consecutive years. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
- Timeshare property: means one or more timeshare units subject to the same timeshare plan, together with any common elements or any other immovable property, or rights therein, appurtenant to those units. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:1131.2
A. The developer of a lease timeshare interest in a multiple use project in Louisiana and the developer of each timeshare plan that has timeshare property located in Louisiana or who maintains a sales office in Louisiana for the sale of timeshare interests shall deposit in an interest bearing account established in the name of the developer at a financial institution in the parish where the timeshare property or sales office is located, the sum of fifty dollars for each timeshare interest sold. The deposit shall be made within thirty days after each sale of a timeshare interest. The funds in the escrow account shall be available to pay judgments against the developer resulting from a violation of this Part.
B. The fifty dollar deposit shall remain in the escrow account for a period of one year from the date of deposit. At the end of one year from the date of deposit, the developer shall be entitled to withdraw each fifty dollar deposit together with all interest earned on the deposit unless the executive director of the Louisiana Real Estate Commission certifies that the deposit is required to satisfy an existing judgment or that an action has been filed against the developer which may reasonably require the deposit to satisfy a judgment. If the executive director of the Louisiana Real Estate Commission thereafter determines that the deposit, or any portion thereof, is not reasonably required to satisfy a judgment, the deposit or the unused portion together with all interest earned may be withdrawn by the developer.
C. If a purchaser or timeshare interest owner receives a final money judgment against a developer for a violation of this Part, or files suit under this Part, the purchaser or timeshare interest owner shall file a notification with the executive director of the Louisiana Real Estate Commission. This notification shall include appropriate evidence of the judgment or the filing of the cause of action. Upon receipt of such notification, the executive director of the Louisiana Real Estate Commission shall give notice to the financial institution holding the escrow account of the judgment or filing of a cause of action. Upon receipt of the notice by a financial institution, no funds in the escrow account established by the developer under the provisions of this Section shall be disbursed by the financial institution unless approved by the executive director of the Louisiana Real Estate Commission.
D. The Louisiana Real Estate Commission shall have the right to require a developer to give reasonable evidence of the deposits required under the provisions of this Section. The commission shall have the power to seek an injunction to prohibit any further sales by a developer who fails to give the evidence of deposits required herein.
E. The Louisiana Real Estate Commission may adopt reasonable rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this Section.
F. The provisions of this Section shall in no way limit recovery of damages from a developer’s assets under any appropriate remedy provided by law.
G. If the Louisiana Real Estate Commission determines that a developer is in compliance with the escrow requirements of La. Rev. Stat. 9:1131.16, it may notify the developer that it will no longer require deposits under this Section, and will return all deposits existing on the date of such notification within one year of such notification, provided no judgment or action exists which the deposits may reasonably be required to satisfy, and provided the developer continues to comply with La. Rev. Stat. 9:1131.16.
Added by Acts 1983, No. 552, §1; Acts 1985, No. 999, §3.
{{NOTE: SEE ACTS 1985, NO. 999, §5.}}