Bakersfield Municipal Code Ch. 5.20 Closing-Out Sales

Sections: 5.20.010 Permit—Required—Application requirements—Fee—Issuance. 5.20.020 Permit—Application endorsed with date of filing and kept as record. 5.20.030 Permit—Application containing false statements. 5.20.040 Only goods described in application covered by permit. 5.20.050 Ordering new goods in contemplation of sale unlawful. 5.20.060 Adding merchandise during sale unlawful. 5.20.070 Advertising. 5.20.080 Liability of advertisement publishers. 5.20.090 Exemptions. 5.20.100 Violation—Penalty.

A. It is unlawful for any person to advertise, represent or hold out that any sale of goods, ware and merchandise is an insurance, bankruptcy, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent’s, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s, removal or closing-out sale, or any particular department of such stock of goods, wares and merchandise, under the guise of discontinuing that particular department, or a sale of goods, wares and merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership or trusteeship, or to conduct such a sale, unless he has first obtained a permit to conduct such a sale from the city manager of the city.

B. For the purposes of this chapter, “person” includes corporation, partnership, firm and association.

C. The chief of police of the city, or any other city officer designated by the city manager, shall at all times have the power and it shall be his duty to make examination or investigation of the business and the books, records and accounts, and other papers pertaining thereto, of any company or individual theretofore permitted or authorized to conduct such sales.

D. The applicant for such a permit shall make application therefor to the city manager of the city, and at the time of such application shall pay a minimum filing fee of twenty-five dollars, plus additional fees based upon the following table:

1. For any amount of net inventory over and above five thousand dollars up to ten thousand dollars, the

sum of five dollars per one thousand dollars, or fraction thereof;

2. For the next fifty thousand dollars of net inventory, the sum of two dollars per one thousand dollars, or
fraction thereof;

3. All over sixty thousand dollars of net inventory, the sum of one dollar per one thousand dollars, or
fraction thereof.

E. Said application must be in writing and under oath, showing all the facts in regard to the insurance, bankruptcy, liquidation, mortgaging, insolvency, assignment, administration, receivership, trusteeship, or removal by reason of which such sale is to be conducted, or in regard to the closing out of his stock of goods, wares or merchandise, by fire, smoke, water or otherwise, and showing all the facts in regard to the sale which he proposes to conduct and the place and manner of conducting the same, including an inventory of the goods, wares and merchandise to be sold at such sale, and a statement of the names of the persons from whom the goods, wares and merchandise so to be sold were obtained, the date of the delivery of such goods, wares and merchandise to the person applying for the permit, and the place from which said goods, wares and merchandise were last taken and all details necessary to fully identify the goods, wares and merchandise so to be sold. Such application shall specify the proposed period of time over which such sales shall continue, which period shall not exceed three months.

F. The city manager shall not grant any permit under this chapter until the application therefor has been referred to the chief of police for his investigation and report thereon; provided, that it shall be made to appear upon sworn application to the city manager at any time during said period of three months, that all of the goods, wares and merchandise described and inventoried in the original application have not been sold, accompanied by a statement or inventory of what remain thereof, a permit supplemental to the one provided for in this chapter may be issued by said city manager upon the same terms and conditions as said original permit granting authority to continue such sale for a further period of three months. Such original application shall also specify the type of sale the applicant proposes to advertise or conduct.

G. If the city manager is satisfied that said proposed sale is of the character represented by the applicant, that the applicant is of good moral character, and that neither the applicant nor any of its officers, directors or members have violated this chapter, and that the advertising or conducting of such sale will not be injurious to the peace, health, safety or welfare of the people of the city, he may issue a revocable permit to the person applying for the same, authorizing him to advertise and conduct a sale of the particular kind mentioned in the application, in accordance with the requirements of this chapter. (Prior code § 7.20.010)

record.

The city manager of the city shall endorse upon such application the date of its filing, and shall preserve the same as a record of his office. (Prior code § 7.20.020)

Any person making a false statement in the application provided for in Section 5.20.010 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable as provided in Section 5.20.100. (Prior code § 7.20.030)

The permit as provided for in Section 5.20.010 shall be valid only for a sale of the goods, wares and merchandise inventoried and described in the application for such permit, in the manner and at the time and place mentioned and set forth in such application, and any removal of such goods, wares and merchandise so inventoried and described in such application from the place of sale mentioned in such application, shall cause such goods, wares, and merchandise to lose their identity as an insurance, bankrupt, liquidation, mortgaged, insolvent’s, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s or trustee’s stock of goods, wares, and merchandise damaged by fire, smoke or water, or otherwise, and no permit will thereafter be issued for the conducting of a sale of any of such goods, wares or merchandise so removed from the place set forth and described in such application, under the provisions of this chapter, at any other place or places. (Prior code § 7.20.040)

A. No person in contemplation of conducting an insurance, bankrupt, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent’s, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s or trustee’s removal or closing-out sale, or a sale of goods, wares or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water, or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership or trusteeship, under a permit as provided in Section 5.20.010, shall order any goods, wares or merchandise for the purpose of selling and disposing of the same at such sale.

B. The city manager, if he determines that any unusual purchases and additions to the stock of such goods, wares or merchandise have been made within sixty days prior to the filing of the application for a permit to conduct such sale mentioned in Section 5.20.010, shall refuse to issue the permit applied for under the provisions of this chapter. (Prior code § 7.20.050)

A. It is unlawful for any person carrying on or conducting an insurance, bankrupt, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s or trustee’s removal or closing-out sale, or sale of goods, wares or merchandise damaged by fire, smoke, water, or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership or trusteeship, under a permit as provided in Section 5.20.010 to add, during the continuance of such sale, any goods, wares or merchandise for the purpose of selling the same, to the stock of goods, wares or merchandise described and inventoried in his original application for such permit, and no goods, wares or merchandise shall be sold at, or during such sale, excepting the goods, wares or merchandise described and inventoried in such original application, and each and every addition of goods, wares or merchandise for the purpose of sale to such stock of goods, wares or merchandise described and inventoried in said application, and each sale of such goods, wares or merchandise as were not inventoried and described in said application, shall constitute a separate offense under this chapter.

B. Any violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor punishable as provided in Section 5.20.100. (Prior code § 7.20.060)

Any person who advertises, represents or holds out any sale of goods, wares or merchandise to be an insurance, bankrupt, liquidation, mortgage, insolvent, assignee’s, executor’s administrator’s, receiver’s, or trustee’s removal or closing-out sale, or a sale of goods, wares or merchandise damaged by fire, water, smoke, or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership or trusteeship, without first complying with the provisions of this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable as provided in Section 5.20.100. (Prior code § 7.20.070)

Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed to apply to any publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or other publication, who publishes said advertisement in good faith, without knowledge of its false, deceptive or misleading character, or without knowledge that the provisions of this chapter have not been complied with. (Prior code § 7.20.100)

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to sheriffs, constables, or to other public or court officers, or to any other person or persons acting upon the license, direction, or authority of any court, state or federal, selling goods, wares or merchandise in the course of their official duties, and pursuant to the provisions of a statute authorizing such sale. (Prior code § 7.20.090)

Any person who holds, conducts or carries on any sale of goods, wares or merchandise as an insurance, bankrupt, mortgage, insolvent’s, assignee’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s or trustee’s removal or closing-out sale, or sale of goods, wares or merchandise damaged by fire, water, or otherwise, or a sale of goods from the stock of a bankrupt, receiver, trustee, insurance company, receivership or trusteeship, contrary to the provisions of this chapter, or whose advertising, statement, representation or assertion is false or untrue, in any respect, or which by the exercise of reasonable care should be known to be false or untrue, deceptive or misleading, or who violates any of the provisions of this chapter, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in a sum of not less than fifty dollars, and not more than five hundred dollars, or shall be imprisoned in the county jail for not less than ten days and not more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment. (Prior code § 7.20.080)