Chapter 4 - Discrimination
CHAPTER 4 - DISCRIMINATION
40-4-101. What constitutes unfair discrimination; penalty; exceptions.
(a) Any person, firm, corporation, foreign or domestic, orother entity doing business in the state of Wyoming and engaged in theproduction, manufacture, sale or distribution of any commodity in general use,shall not:
(i) Make, enter into, form or become a party to any plan,contract, agreement, consolidation, merger or combination of any kindwhatsoever to prevent competition or to control or influence production orprices thereof.
(ii) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
(iii) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
(b) Any person, firm, corporation or other entity violatingsubsection (a) of this section is guilty of unfair discrimination and anyagreement, contract, whether express or implied, or any provision of anagreement or contract violating subsection (a) of this section is illegal andvoid to the extent it violates subsection (a) of this section.
(c) This chapter shall not:
(i) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
(ii) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
(iii) Prevent the sale of goods at commercial discounts customaryin the sale of the goods;
(iv) Prohibit cooperative agreements for antitrust exceptionsapproved and operating pursuant to W.S. 35-24-101 through 35-24-116;
(v) Prohibit the development, agreement on and use of standardsdesigned to permit or encourage competition or interoperability among productsor services, provided the standards do not include provisions fixing orcolluding on the prices or colluding to prevent competition by limiting theavailability of the products or services;
(vi) Prohibit any person, firm, corporation or other entity fromentering into any agreement or contract with a customer which specifies theprice charged, or the services furnished, to the customer, or which givesdiscounts or additional services to the customer for purchasing specifiedvolumes or multiple products of the same or similar product or service; or
(vii) Prohibit any person, firm, corporation or other entity fromoffering a customer loyalty program.
(d) As used in this chapter "this act" means W.S.40-4-101 through 40-4-105, 40-4-107, 40-4-109, 40-4-110 and 40-4-114.
40-4-102. Duty of attorney general and county attorney upon complaint.
If complaint shall be made to the attorneygeneral of the state of Wyoming, or the county attorney of any county thereof,that any corporation, chartered in this state or any foreign corporation, doingbusiness in this state by virtue of compliance with the laws thereof, or anyperson or firm of persons doing business in this state, is guilty of unfairdiscrimination, within the terms of this act, it shall be the duty of theattorney general, and the county attorneys of this state to institute aninquiry as to such discrimination, giving to the party complained againstnotice and reasonable opportunity to be heard, and if in the judgment of suchprosecuting officers, or either of them, any corporation, foreign or domestic,or any person or firm of persons shall have been guilty of unfairdiscrimination, within the terms of this act, it shall be their duty to institutequo warranto proceeding, to forfeit the charter of said domestic corporation,or if a foreign corporation to procure an order of court to cause the permit ofsaid corporation to do business in this state, immediately forfeited.
40-4-103. Ouster of corporation for doing business after revocation ofcharter or permit.
If after the revocation of such charter, inthe case of domestic corporation; or if its permit, if it be a foreigncorporation, any corporation shall continue or attempt to do business in thestate of Wyoming, it shall be the duty of the attorney general, by a propersuit, in the name of the state of Wyoming to oust such corporation from allbusiness of every kind and character in said state of Wyoming.
40-4-104. Penalty for violation of provisions.
Any person, firm or corporation violatingany of the provisions of this chapter shall be fined in any sum not more thanfive thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail notexceeding one (1) year, or both such fine and imprisonment.
40-4-105. Cumulative remedies.
Nothing in this act shall be construed asrepealing any other act or part of an act, but the remedies herein providedshall be cumulative to all other remedies, provided by law.
40-4-106. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-107. Sale at less than cost prohibited; cost defined.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, firm,corporation, joint-stock company, or other association engaged in businesswithin this state, to sell, offer for sale or advertise for sale any article orproduct, at less than the cost thereof to such vendor, or give, offer to giveor advertise the intent to give away any article or product for the purpose ofinjuring competitors and destroying competition.
(b) The term cost as applied to production or manufacturing ishereby defined as including the cost of raw materials and labor and as appliedto distribution cost shall mean the invoice or replacement cost, whichever islower, of the article or product to the distributor and vendor plus any freightcharges, all applicable federal, state and local taxes and any charges imposedby federal, state or local government that are not taxes that are paid by thedistributor and vendor and are not included in the invoice cost.
(c) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-108. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-109. Proof of intent; cost survey as evidence of cost.
In any injunction proceeding or in theprosecution of any person as officer, director or agent, it shall be sufficientto allege and prove the unlawful intent of the person, firm or corporation forwhom or which he acts. Where a particular trade or industry, of which theperson, firm or corporation complained against is a member, has an establishedcost survey for the locality and vicinity in which the offense is committed,the said cost survey shall be deemed competent evidence to be used in provingthe costs of the person, firm or corporation complained against within theprovisions of this act.
40-4-110. Persons, agreements and transactions exempted from W.S.40-4-107 and 40-4-109.
(a) The provisions of W.S. 40-4-107 and 40-4-109 shall notapply to any sale made:
(i) In closing out in good faith the owner's stock or any partthereof for the purpose of discontinuing his trade in any such stock orcommodity, and in the case of the sale of seasonal goods or to the bona fidesale of perishable goods to prevent loss to the vendor by spoilage ordepreciation, provided notice is given to the public thereof;
(ii) When the goods are damaged or deteriorated in quality, andnotice is given to the public thereof;
(iii) By an officer acting under the orders of any court;
(iv) In an endeavor made in good faith to meet the prices of acompetitor selling the same or similar article or product in the same localityor trade area;
(v) When the goods are sold for promotional purposes at aspecial sale of limited duration including but not limited to a grand openingsale, an annual anniversary sale, an annual customer appreciation sale or acommunity, neighborhood or mall wide sale;
(vi) In a sale of limited duration to reduce inventory, disposeof slow selling items or dispose of items replaced or to be replaced by newmodels;
(vii) Of any products in a class of products where the prices areidentical for the same volume throughout the class provided the total revenuesfrom all the sales of products of that class by the vendor exceed the costs asdefined in W.S. 40-4-107. For pharmaceuticals, for the purposes of thissubsection, prices are identical if they are identical for a supply for adefined period of time even though the physical quantities of pharmaceuticalsmay be different.
(b) Any person, firm or corporation who performs work upon,renovates, alters or improves any personal property belonging to anotherperson, firm or corporation, shall be construed to be a vendor within themeaning of this act.
(c) W.S. 40-4-107 through 40-4-110 shall not apply to anyperson entering into a cooperative arrangement for antitrust exceptionsapproved pursuant to W.S. 35-24-101 through 35-24-116.
40-4-111. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-112. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-113. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-114. Enjoining violations; recovery of damages.
(a) Any person, firm, private corporation or trade association,having a reasonably foreseeable physical and economic causal nexus to thespecific act or acts alleged to be a violation, may maintain an action toenjoin a continuance of any act or acts in violation of this act.
(b) Any injured person may maintain an action for violation ofthis act against the alleged violator to recover the actual damages sustainedby the injured person together with reasonable attorneys fees and costs.
(c) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
(d) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
(e) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
(f) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
(g) Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-115. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-116. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-117. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-118. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-119. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-120. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-121. Repealed By Laws 2009, Ch. 172, 2.
40-4-122. Requiring construction of particular building to maintainagency or dealership.
Any manufacturer, or any jobber ordistributor for any manufactured product, or any salesman, agent orrepresentative of any such manufacturer, jobber or distributor who requires, orattempts to require, of any dealer or agent residing in the state of Wyoming,who sells or services the products of such manufacturer, jobber or distributor,that such Wyoming agent or dealer construct or build any particular type orstandard of building in order to maintain his agency or dealership to sell suchmanufactured product, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon convictionthereof shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), orsentenced to imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six (6) months,or shall be subject to both such fine and imprisonment.
40-4-123. Requiring purchase of accessories to maintain agency ordealership.
Any manufacturer, or any jobber ordistributing agent for any manufactured product, or any salesman, agent orrepresentative of any such manufacturer, jobber or distributor, who requires,or attempts to require, of any Wyoming agent or dealer selling or servicing theproducts of such manufacturer, jobber or distributor, that such Wyoming dealeror agent purchase accessories or products of such manufacturer, jobber ordistributor in order to obtain other products of such manufacturer, jobber ordistributor shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shallbe fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or sentenced toimprisonment in the county jail for not more than six (6) months, or shall besubject to both such fine and imprisonment.