(a) Whenever the bureau determines that any household mover or any officer, director, or agent of any household mover has abandoned, or is abandoning, stored household goods or property of any shippers under contract with the household mover or movers, it may request the Attorney General or any district attorney, county counsel, city attorney, or city prosecutor in this state to commence a proceeding in superior court for the purpose of having the court appoint either a receiver or bureau staff to identify the stored items of property, to take possession of the property, and to arrange the return of the property to its owners in accordance with the orders of the court and with regard for the protection of all property rights involved.
(b) The proceeding shall be brought in the superior court in and for the county, or city and county, in which the cause or some part of the cause arose, or in which the person or corporation complained of has its principal place of business, or in which the person complained of resides. The proceeding shall be commenced in the name of the people of the State of California, by petition to the superior court, alleging the facts and circumstances involved and praying for appropriate relief by way of mandamus or injunction, or the appointment of a receiver, and authorizing the bureau to arrange for the hiring of a receiver who shall be required to comply with the requirements of Sections 566, 567, and 568 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(c) The court may also appoint a receiver to manage the business of a household mover or movers and return property to its owner or owners upon a showing satisfactory to the court that the abandonment or threatened abandonment by the household mover jeopardizes property or funds of others in the custody or under the control of the household mover. The court may make any other order that it finds appropriate to protect and preserve those funds or that property.
(d) In the event a receiver is appointed by the court and the bureau is responsible for contracting for a receiver to carry out the duties authorized by this section, the bureau may contract on an emergency basis with a qualified person or corporation to serve as receiver under the conditions and guidelines set by the court. The contract for the receiver services may be executed by the bureau on an expedited basis. The receiver shall be paid from the fees collected pursuant to this chapter.
(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 421, Sec. 8. (SB 19) Effective January 1, 2018.)