Pro's Closet v. City of Boulder

2019 COA 128
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 22, 2019
Docket18CA1275
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2019 COA 128 (Pro's Closet v. City of Boulder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pro's Closet v. City of Boulder, 2019 COA 128 (Colo. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

The summaries of the Colorado Court of Appeals published opinions constitute no part of the opinion of the division but have been prepared by the division for the convenience of the reader. The summaries may not be cited or relied upon as they are not the official language of the division. Any discrepancy between the language in the summary and in the opinion should be resolved in favor of the language in the opinion.

SUMMARY August 22, 2019

2019COA128

No. 18CA1275, Pro’s Closet v. City of Boulder — Local Government — Pawnbrokers

A division of the court of appeals interprets the definition of

“pawnbroker” in section 29-11.9-101(7), C.R.S. 2018, and holds

that it includes persons regularly engaged in making “purchase

transactions,” as that term is defined in section 29-11.9-101(8), and

not just persons regularly engaged in making “contracts for

purchase,” as that term is defined in section 29-11.9-101(1), who

also make purchase transactions. COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS 2019COA128

Court of Appeals No. 18CA1275 Boulder County District Court No. 17CV30652 Honorable Patrick Butler, Judge

The Pro’s Closet, Inc., a Delaware corporation,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

City of Boulder, Colorado, and Michael Dougherty, in his official capacity as the District Attorney for the 20th Judicial District of Colorado,

Defendants-Appellees.

JUDGMENT AFFIRMED

Division IV Opinion by JUDGE J. JONES Román and Lipinsky, JJ., concur

Announced August 22, 2019

LaszloLaw, Theodore E. Laszlo, Jr., Michael J. Laszlo, Boulder, Colorado; Sean Connelly, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellant

Thomas A. Carr, City Attorney, Luis Toro, Senior Assistant City Attorney, Boulder, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellee City of Boulder

Ben Perlman, County Attorney, David Hughes, Deputy County Attorney, Catherine R. Ruhland, Assistant County Attorney, Boulder, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellee Michael Dougherty ¶1 Plaintiff, The Pro’s Closet, Inc., appeals the district court’s

summary judgment in favor of defendant, the City of Boulder. The

court ruled that Pro’s Closet is a “pawnbroker” as defined in section

29-11.9-101, C.R.S. 2018, and is therefore subject to the

requirements, restrictions, and potential sanctions of the state

pawnbroker laws, sections 29-11.9-101 to -104, C.R.S. 2018.

Because we conclude that the district court didn’t err in

interpreting the pawnbroker statutes, we affirm the judgment.

I. Background

¶2 Pro’s Closet is licensed in Boulder as a secondhand dealer

under the Boulder Revised Code. It sells used bicycles, bicycle

parts, and bicycle gear. Though it has a warehouse in Boulder,

Pro’s Closet does most of its business online.

¶3 In 2016, the Twentieth Judicial District’s District Attorney’s

Office told the Boulder Police Department to treat Pro’s Closet as a

“pawnbroker” under state law, meaning, among other things, that

Pro’s Closet must hold used goods it buys for thirty days before

reselling them instead of ninety-six hours as required by the

Boulder Revised Code’s secondhand dealer ordinances. See § 29-

11.9-103(6), C.R.S. 2018; Boulder Rev. Code 4-17-10. Pro’s Closet

1 filed suit, seeking a declaratory judgment that it isn’t subject to

state pawnbroker laws.

¶4 Both Pro’s Closet and the City moved for summary judgment.

The district court granted the City’s motion, concluding that, since

Pro’s Closet regularly makes “purchase transaction[s]” as defined by

section 29-11.9-101(8), it is a pawnbroker under state law.

II. Discussion

¶5 Pro’s Closet argues on appeal that (1) the district court erred

in ruling that it is a pawnbroker under section 29-11.9-101; and (2)

because Colorado’s and the City’s secondhand dealer laws are more

specific to its business, it isn’t subject to state pawnbroker laws. 1

We reject both arguments.

A. Pro’s Closet is a Pawnbroker Under State Law

¶6 Pro’s Closet argues first that the district court incorrectly

interpreted section 29-11.9-101 in concluding that it is a

“pawnbroker.”

1Pro’s Closet asserted four more arguments in its opening and reply briefs, but later withdrew them.

2 1. Standard of Review and Interpretive Principles

¶7 We review issues of statutory interpretation de novo. Colo. Oil

& Gas Conservation Comm’n v. Martinez, 2019 CO 3, ¶ 19.

¶8 In construing a statute, we look to the entire statutory scheme

to give consistent, harmonious, and sensible effect to all of its parts,

and we apply words and phrases in accordance with their plain and

ordinary meanings. Id.; Denver Post Corp. v. Ritter, 255 P.3d 1083,

1088-89 (Colo. 2011). When the statutory language is clear, we

apply it as written, without resorting to other principles of statutory

interpretation. Martinez, ¶ 19; Denver Post Corp., 255 P.3d at 1088.

2. Analysis

¶9 Article 11.9 of title 29 of the Colorado Revised Statutes

regulates certain activities of “pawnbrokers.” §§ 29-11.9-101

to -104. It both requires and prohibits specified acts by

pawnbrokers, §§ 29-11.9-103, -104, and it creates criminal

penalties for noncompliance, § 29-11.9-104(3)(b), (4).2 The required

2 The pawnbroker statutes also allow for local licensing and regulation of pawnbrokers, subject to limitations, § 29-11.9-102, C.R.S. 2018, and dictate a criminal penalty for any customer who knowingly gives certain kinds of false information to a pawnbroker, § 29-11.9-104(5), C.R.S. 2018.

3 act that Pro’s Closet apparently considers the most onerous is the

requirement to “hold all property purchased by [the pawnbroker]

through a purchase transaction for thirty days following the date of

purchase . . . .” § 29-11.9-103(6).

¶ 10 Section 29-11.9-101(7) defines a “pawnbroker” as “a person

regularly engaged in the business of making contracts for purchase

or purchase transactions in the course of his or her business.”

(Emphasis added.) Section 29-11.9-101(1) defines a “contract for

purchase” as

a contract entered into between a pawnbroker and a customer pursuant to which money is advanced to the customer by the pawnbroker on the delivery of tangible personal property by the customer on the condition that the customer, for a fixed price and within a fixed period of time, to be no less than thirty days, has the option to cancel said contract.

And section 29-11.9-101(8) defines a “purchase transaction” as

the purchase by a pawnbroker in the course of his or her business of tangible personal property for resale, other than newly manufactured tangible personal property that has not previously been sold at retail, when the purchase does not constitute a contract for purchase.

4 ¶ 11 The City doesn’t claim that Pro’s Closet makes “contracts for

purchase”; it claims that Pro’s Closet regularly engages in the

business of making “purchase transactions,” as that term is

statutorily defined. For its part, Pro’s Closet doesn’t dispute that it

regularly makes purchase transactions. Instead, it argues that to

be a “pawnbroker” under the state statutes, a person or business

must regularly make contracts for purchase. A business that

makes purchase transactions only counts as a “pawnbroker,” Pro’s

Closet says, if its primary business is making contracts for

purchase.

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Bluebook (online)
2019 COA 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pros-closet-v-city-of-boulder-coloctapp-2019.