Article 9.

Earnings of Employees in Interstate Commerce.

§ 95-73.  Collections out of State to avoid exemptions forbidden.

No resident creditor or other holder of any book account, negotiable instrument, duebill or other monetary demand arising out of contract, due by or chargeable against any resident wage earner or other salaried employee of any railway corporation or other corporation, firm, or individual engaged in interstate business shall send out of the State, assign, or transfer the same, for value or otherwise, with intent to thereby deprive such debtor of his personal earnings and property exempt by law from application to the payment of his debts under the laws of the State of North Carolina, by instituting or causing to be instituted thereon against such debtor, in any court outside of this State, in such creditor's own name or in the name of any other person, any action, suit, or proceeding for the attachment or garnishment of such debtor's earnings in the hands of his employer, when such creditor and debtor and the railway corporation or other corporation, firm, or individual owing the wages or salary intended to be reached are under the jurisdiction of the courts of this State. (1909, c. 504, s. 1; C.S., s. 6568.)

 

§ 95-74.  Resident not to abet collection out of State.

No person residing or sojourning in this State shall counsel, aid, or abet any violation of the provisions of G.S. 95-73. (1909, c. 504, s. 2; C.S., s. 6569.)

 

§ 95-75.  Remedies for violation of § 95-73 or 95-74; damages; indictment.

Any person violating any provisions of G.S. 95-73 or 95-74 shall be answerable in damages to any debtor from whom any book account, negotiable instrument, duebill, or other monetary demand arising out of contract shall be collected, or against whose earnings any warrant of attachment or notice of garnishment shall be issued, in violation of the provisions of G.S. 95-73, to the full amount of the debt thus collected, attached, or garnisheed, to be recovered by civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction in this State; and any person so offending shall likewise be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor, punishable only by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200.00). (1909, c. 504, s. 3; C.S., s. 6570; 1993, c. 539, s. 666; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

 

§ 95-76.  Institution of foreign suit, etc., evidence of intent to violate.

In any civil or criminal action instituted in any court of competent jurisdiction in this State for any violation of the provisions of G.S. 95-73 and 95-74, proof of the institution or prosecution of any action, suit, or proceeding in violation of the provisions of G.S. 95-73, or the issuance of service therein of any warrant of attachment, notice, or garnishment or other like writ for the garnishment of earnings of the defendant therein, or of the payment by the garnishee therein of any final judgment rendered in any such action, suit, or proceeding shall be deemed prima facie evidence of the intent of the creditor or other holder of the debt sued upon to deprive such debtor of his personal earnings and property exempt from application to the payment of his debts under the laws of this State, in violation of the provisions of this Article. (1909, c. 504, s. 4; C.S., s. 6571.)

 

§ 95-77.  Construction of Article.

No provision of this Article shall be so construed as to deprive any person entitled to its benefits of any legal or equitable remedy already possessed under the laws of this State. (1909, c. 504, s. 5; C.S., s. 6572.)