GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1991 SESSION

CHAPTER 531
HOUSE BILL 662

AN ACT TO CHANGE THE LAW PROVIDING FOR THE DISPOSITION BY LAUNDRIES AND DRY CLEANERS OF UNCLAIMED GARMENTS AND TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING DISPOSAL OF UNCLAIMED PROPERTY BY SHERIFFS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 66-67 reads as rewritten:
"§ 66-67. Disposition by laundries and dry cleaning establishments of certain unclaimed clothing.
(a)	If any person fails to claim any garment, clothing, household article or other article delivered for laundering, cleaning or pressing to any laundry or dry cleaning establishment as defined in G.S. 105-85, or any dry cleaning establishment as defined in G.S. 105-74, for a period of 90 days after the surrender of such articles for processing, the laundry or dry cleaning establishment may dispose of such garments, clothing, household articles or other articles by whatever means it may choose, without liability or responsibility to the owner, 30 days after a notice has been mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last known address of the owner of the garment, clothing, or other article, stating that the article will be disposed of unless it is redeemed within 30 days of the mailing of the notice.  Provided, however, that before such laundry or dry cleaning establishment may claim the benefit of this section it shall at the time of receiving such garments, clothing, household articles or other articles, have a notice of dimensions of not less than eight and one-half by 11 inches, prominently displayed in a conspicuous place in the office, branch office or retail outlet where said clothes, garments or articles are received, if the same be received at an office, on which notice shall appear the words 'NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR GOODS LEFT ON HAND FOR MORE THAN 90 DAYS'. 
(b)	If any person fails to claim any garment, clothing, household article or other article delivered to any laundry or dry cleaning establishment described in subsection (a) of this section and displaying the notice described in that subsection, for a period of 180 days, the laundry or dry cleaning establishment may, without giving notice to the owner, dispose of such garment, clothing, household article, or other article by whatever means it may choose, without liability or responsibility to the owner.
(c)	The provisions of this section shall also be applicable with respect to the storage of garments, furs, rugs, clothing or other articles after the completion of the period for which storage was agreed to be provided."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 15-13 reads as rewritten:
"§ 15-13. Public sale 30 days after publication of notice.
If said articles shall remain unclaimed or satisfactory evidence of ownership thereof not be presented to the sheriff or police department, as the case may be, for a period of 30 days after the publication of the notice provided for in G.S. 15-12, then the said sheriff or police department in whose custody such articles may be is hereby authorized and empowered to sell the same at public auction for cash to the highest bidder, either at the courthouse door of the county, the county law enforcement headquarters if the sale is conducted by the sheriff, or at the police headquarters of the municipality in which the said articles of property are located, and at such sale to deliver the same to the purchaser or purchasers thereof."
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification, and Section 1 applies to all articles delivered to a laundry or dry cleaning establishment on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 3rd day of July, 1991.

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James C. Gardner
President of the Senate

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Daniel Blue, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Representatives