(a) If the department shall have reason to believe that any person, firm, corporation, or association is violating the provisions of this chapter, the department may issue its order to that person, firm, corporation, or association commanding them to appear before the department at a hearing to be held not sooner than ten (10) days nor later than twenty (20) days after issuance of the order to show cause why the commission should not issue an order to the person to cease and desist from the violation of the provisions of this chapter.
(b) An order to show cause may be served on any person, firm, corporation, or association named therein by any person in the same manner that a summons in a civil action may be served, or by mailing a copy of the order to the person at any address at which he or she has done business or at which he or she lives. If upon the hearing the department shall be satisfied that the person is in fact violating any provision of this chapter, then the department shall order that person, in writing, to cease and desist from the violation. At any hearing, any person subject to an order of the department to cease and desist may be represented by counsel.
(c) The department shall not be bound by common law rules of evidence, but may receive and consider any statements, documents, and things which shall be considered by them necessary or useful in arriving at their decision. If that person shall thereafter fail to comply with the order of the department, the superior court for Providence County shall have jurisdiction upon the complaint of the department to restrain and enjoin that person from violating this chapter. The complaint shall be in the form of a civil action. The findings and order of the department shall constitute prima facie evidence that the person ordered by the department to cease and desist has violated the provisions of this chapter.
(d) The attorney general shall afford the department any necessary assistance in obtaining relief in the superior court.
History of Section.
P.L. 1982, ch. 273, § 1; P.L. 1985, ch. 181, art. 32, § 2; P.L. 2007, ch. 340, § 17.