490.141  Notices and other communications.
  1.  A notice under this chapter must be in writing unless oral notice is reasonable in the circumstances. Unless otherwise agreed between the sender and the recipient, words in a notice or other communication under this chapter must be in English.
  2.  A notice or other communication may be given by any method of delivery, except that electronic transmissions must be in accordance with this section. If the methods of delivery are impracticable, a notice or other communication may be given by means of a broad nonexclusionary distribution to the public, which may include a newspaper of general circulation in the area where published; radio, television, or other form of public broadcast communication; or other methods of distribution that the corporation has previously identified to its shareholders.
  3.  A notice or other communication to a domestic corporation or to a foreign corporation registered to do business in this state may be delivered to the corporation’s registered agent at its registered office or to the secretary at the corporation’s principal office shown in its most recent biennial report required by section 490.1621 or, in the case of a foreign corporation that has not yet delivered a biennial report, in its foreign registration statement.
  4.  A notice or other communication may be delivered by electronic transmission if consented to by the recipient or if authorized by subsection 10.
  5.  Any consent under subsection 4 may be revoked by the person who consented by written or electronic notice to the person to whom the consent was delivered. Any such consent is deemed revoked if all of the following apply:
  a.  The corporation is unable to deliver two consecutive electronic transmissions given by the corporation in accordance with such consent.
  b.  Such inability becomes known to the secretary or an assistant secretary or to the transfer agent, or other person responsible for the giving of notice or other communications; provided, however, the inadvertent failure to treat such inability as a revocation shall not invalidate any meeting or other action.
  6.  Unless otherwise agreed between the sender and the recipient, an electronic transmission is received when all of the following apply:
  a.  The electronic transmission enters an information processing system that the recipient has designated or uses for the purposes of receiving electronic transmissions or information of the type sent, and from which the recipient is able to retrieve the electronic transmission.
  b.  The electronic transmission is in a form capable of being processed by that system.
  7.  Receipt of an electronic acknowledgment from an information processing system described in subsection 6, paragraph “a”, establishes that an electronic transmission was received but, by itself, does not establish that the content sent corresponds to the content received.
  8.  An electronic transmission is received under this section even if no person is aware of its receipt. 
  9.  A notice or other communication, if in a comprehensible form or manner, is effective at the earliest of the following:
  a.  If in a physical form, the earliest of when it is actually received, or when it is left at any of the following:
  (1)  A shareholder’s address shown on the corporation’s record of shareholders maintained by the corporation under section 490.1601, subsection 4.
  (2)  A director’s residence or usual place of business.
  (3)  The corporation’s principal office.
  b.  If mailed by postage prepaid and correctly addressed to a shareholder, upon deposit in the United States mail.
  c.  If mailed by United States mail postage prepaid and correctly addressed to a recipient other than a shareholder, the earliest of when it is actually received, or as follows:
  (1)  If sent by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, the date shown on the return receipt signed by or on behalf of the addressee.
  (2)  Five days after it is deposited in the United States mail.
  d.  If an electronic transmission, when it is received as provided in subsection 6.
  e.  If oral, when communicated.
  10.  A notice or other communication may be in the form of an electronic transmission that cannot be directly reproduced in paper form by the recipient through an automated process used in conventional commercial practice only if all of the following apply:
  a.  The electronic transmission is otherwise retrievable in perceivable form.
  b.  The sender and the recipient have consented in writing to the use of such form of electronic transmission.
  11.  If this chapter prescribes requirements for notices or other communications in particular circumstances, those requirements govern. If articles of incorporation or bylaws prescribe requirements for notices or other communications, not inconsistent with this section or other provisions of this chapter, those requirements govern. The articles of incorporation or bylaws may authorize or require delivery of notices of meetings of directors by electronic transmission. 
  12.  In the event that any provisions of this chapter are deemed to modify, limit, or supersede the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. §§7001 et seq., the provisions of this chapter shall control to the maximum extent permitted by section 102(a)(2) of that federal Act.
  13.  a.  Whenever notice would otherwise be required to be given under any provision of this subchapter to a shareholder, such notice need not be given if any of the following apply: 
  (1)  Notices to the shareholders of two consecutive annual meetings, and all notices of meetings during the period between such two consecutive annual meetings, have been sent to such shareholder at such shareholder’s address as shown on the records of the corporation and have been returned undeliverable or could not be delivered. 
  (2)  All, but not less than two, payments of dividends on securities during a twelve-month period, or two consecutive payments of dividends on securities during a period of more than twelve months, have been sent to such shareholder at such shareholder’s address as shown on the records of the corporation and have been returned undeliverable or could not be delivered.
  b.  If any such shareholder shall deliver to the corporation a written notice setting forth such shareholder’s then-current address, the requirement that notice be given to such shareholder shall be reinstated.
89 Acts, ch 288, §16; 97 Acts, ch 171, §10; 2002 Acts, ch 1154, §9, 125; 2013 Acts, ch 31, §3, 82; 2021 Acts, ch 165, §14, 230
Referred to in §490.140, 490.145, 490.149, 490.807, 490.843, 490.1621
2021 amendment effective January 1, 2022; 2021 Acts, ch 165, §230
Section stricken and rewritten