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Pen. Code, § 646 · Chapter 2. Of Other and Miscellaneous Offenses

Pen. Code, § 646

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

It is unlawful for any person with the intent, or for the purpose of instituting a suit thereon outside of this state, to seek or solicit the business of collecting any claim for damages for personal injury sustained within this state, or for death resulting therefrom, with the intention of instituting suit thereon outside of this state, in cases where such right of action rests in a resident of this state, or his legal representative, and is against a person, copartnership, or corporation subject to personal service within this state.

Any person violating any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), by imprisonment in the county jail not less than 30 days nor more than six months, or by both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court but within said limits.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 1983, Ch. 1092, Sec. 314. Effective September 27, 1983. Operative January 1, 1984, by Sec. 427 of Ch. 1092.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=646.
Text hash
sha256 75ffdc3756d3a4918e59c42e7b0718e2757ef9093b857d010c49b48d50bff208
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.