Mississippi § 97-17-60 - Payment for timber acquired for resale; penalties.

§ 97-17-60. Payment for timber acquired for resale; penalties.

Any person who acquires, with the consent of an owner, any timber product from that owner and who receives payment for the timber product shall, within thirty (30) days of such receipt, make payment in full to the owner. If the owner has not received payment within the required thirty (30) days, the owner shall notify the offender of his demand for payment at the offender’s last known address by certified mail or by personal delivery of the written notice to the offender. The offender shall make payment in full within ten (10) days after the mailing or delivery of the written notice or the offender shall be in violation of this section. A written agreement signed by the owner providing for a means of payment contrary to this section shall constitute an affirmative defense. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them herein unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: “Timber product” means timber of all kinds, species or sizes, including, but not limited to, logs, lumber, poles, pilings, posts, blocks, bolts, cordwood and pulpwood, pine stumpwood, pine knots or other distillate wood, crossties, turpentine (crude gum), pine straw, firewood and all other products derived from timber or trees which have a sale or commercial value. “Owner” means any person, partnership, corporation, unincorporated association or other legal entity having any interest in any timber product, any land upon which a timber product is growing or any land from which a timber product has been removed. Whoever violates this section, upon conviction thereof, when the value of the timber product is Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or less, shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or imprisoned for not more than one (1) year, or both. When the value of the timber product is more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), the violator, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or imprisoned for not more than ten (10) years, or both.