Brawley Municipal Code Ch. 5 Bankrupt, Fire and Other Sales

For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall, when used in this chapter, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:

(1) "Sale". (a) Any sale of, or any offer to sell to the public, or any group thereof, goods, wares or merchandise on order, in transit or in stock, in connection with a declared purpose as set forth by advertising that such sale is anticipatory to or to avoid the termination, liquidation, revision, windup, discontinuance, removal, dissolution or abandonment of the business or that portion of the business conducted at any location; and

(b) All sales advertised in any manner calculated to convey to the public the belief that upon the disposal of the goods to be placed on sale, the business or that portion thereof being conducted at any location will cease, be removed, be interrupted, discontinued or changed; and

(c) All sales advertised to be an "adjuster's sale," "adjustment sale," "assignee's sale," "bankrupt sale," "benefit of administrator's sale," "benefit of creditors' sale," "benefit of trustees' sale," "building coming down sale," "closing sale," "closing out sale," "creditors committee sale," "creditor's sale," "damaged goods sale," "end sale," "executors' sale," "final days sale," "fire sale," "forced out sale," "forced out of business sale," "insolvent sale," "insurance salvage sale," "last days sale," "lease expires sale," "lease expiring sale," "liquidation sale," "loss of lease sale," "mortgage sale," "outselling sale," "receiver's sale," "removal sale," "reorganization sale," "salvage sale," "selling out sale," "smoke sale," "smoke and water sale," "trustee's sale," "quitting business sale," "wholesale closing out sale," "we quit sale," "we give up sale," "fixtures for sale," or advertised by any other expression or characterization closely similar to any of the foregoing and calculated to convey the same meaning; and

(d) All sales advertised in a manner calculated to indicate that the goods, wares or merchandise to be sold, or any part thereof, have been involved in any business failure or have been derived from a business which has failed, boon closed, discontinued or liquidated; and

(e) All sales accompanied by notices or advertising indicating that the premises are available for purchase or lease or are otherwise to be vacated; and

(f) All sales accompanied by advertising indicating a business emergency or failure affecting the seller or any previous holder of the goods to be disposed of.

(2) "Advertise," "advertisement," "advertising," "publish," "publication," shall mean any and all means, whether oral, written, lettered or printed, used for conveying to the public notice of the conduct of a sale as defined herein, or notice of intention to conduct such a sale, including but not limited to oral or written announcements by proclamation or outcry, newspaper advertisement, magazine advertisement, handbill, written or printed notice, printed display, billboard display, poster and radio announcement.

(3) "Permit" shall mean a permit issued pursuant to this chapter.

(4) "Permittee" shall mean any person to whom a permit has been issued pursuant to this chapter.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

No person shall publish or conduct any sale of the type defined by the preceding section without first obtaining a permit therefor from the chief of police.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

No permit to conduct a sale under this chapter shall be granted except upon written application to the chief of police signed and verified before a person authorized to administer oaths by the person who intends to conduct such sale. Each application shall set forth and contain the following information:

(1) The description, by street location, and the kind of building of the location at which such sale is to be held;

(2) The nature of the occupancy, whether by ownership, lease or sublease, and if by lease or sublease, the effective date of the termination of such tenancy;

(3) A copy of all advertisements proposed to be used in connection with such sale and a statement of the means or methods of advertising to be used in advertising such sale;

(4) The facts in regard to the insurance, bankruptcy, insolvency, assignment, mortgage, foreclosure, administration, receivership, trusteeship, removal, executorship removal or other cause advertised to be the reason for the proposed sale;

(5) An inventory or statement, in such form and in such detail as the chief of police may require, setting forth the amount and description of goods, wares and merchandise to be sold at such sale and, when required by the chief of police, the date of acquisition of such goods, wares or merchandise, the persons from whom obtained and the place from which such goods were last taken.

The chief of police may require that all goods, wares and merchandise listed upon the inventory or statement shall be so described in detail by the manufacturer's name and lot number, the individual number of articles so numbered, colors, sizes and otherwise, that the identity of such goods with the goods listed on such inventory can be readily determined.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

No application for any permit required by this chapter shall be accepted by the chief of police for filing unless accompanied by a filing fee in the amount of one dollar, no part of which shall be refundable.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

Upon the filing of the application as required by the two preceding sections, the chief of police may make or cause to be made an examination, audit or investigation of the applicant and his affairs in relation to the proposed sale.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

If the chief of police finds that the statements in the application are true, that the inventory is complete, that the advertising set forth is not false, fraudulent, deceptive or misleading in any respect and that the methods to be used by the applicant in conducting the sale are not such as, in the opinion of the chief of police, will work a fraud upon the purchasers, the chief of police shall issue to the applicant a permit to conduct such sale in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Otherwise, the chief of police shall deny the application and refuse the permit. The chief of police may refuse a permit because of the insufficiency of the information set forth in the application, but in such event the chief of police shall grant the applicant permission to file an amended application.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

Each permit issued under the provisions of this chapter shall have printed, written or stamped on the face thereof the following:

"This permit is granted by the chief of police and accepted by the permittee upon the condition that such permittee comply with and abide by all the provisions of section 5.7 of the Code of the City of Brawley, California, 1956."

At the time of the delivery of the permit such statement must be signed by the permittee in the presence of a member of the police force who shall sign as a witness.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

Any permit issued under the provisions of this chapter shall authorize the one type of sale named in the application, at the place named therein, for a period of not more than sixty calendar days, and shall permit the sale of goods only which are set out in the application, all of which goods throughout the duration of the sale must be definitely separated from any other goods displayed at or within the store or place of business. All advertising, signs or notices referring to or calling attention to the sale must be confined to the display of goods involved in the sale, except as provided by the following section.

The permit shall be valid only for the advertising, representation and sale of the particular goods, wares or merchandise described in the original application therefor, at the particular time and particular place stated therein and by the particular applicant. Any renewal, replenishment or substitution of such goods, wares or merchandise or change of time or place for the sale or change of person conducting the sale shall be unlawful and shall render such permit void.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

The chief of police may, upon a verified application therefor, renew the permit required by section 5.2 of this Code for a period of not to exceed sixty days, upon the payment of a renewal fee in the amount of one dollar. Such verified petition for renewal shall set forth a complete list of goods listed in the original application and remaining unsold and shall not contain any goods, wares or merchandise not named in such original application. Upon receipt of such application for renewal, the chief of police shall cause an investigation to be made at once and, if satisfied of the truth of the statements therein contained, the chief of police shall grant such renewal, which shall be endorsed and signed as provided for the original permit. The chief of police may renew any original permit in the manner above provided not to exceed two times, upon the payment of the sum of one dollar for each such renewal; provided, however, that the chief of police may not issue permits or renewals which will allow the conduct of any sale of any kind named in this chapter at any one location for more than one hundred twenty calendar days in any one twelve-month period.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

No person contemplating conducting a sale or special sale, or during the continuance of such a sale, shall order any goods, wares or merchandise for the purpose of selling them at such sale. Any unusual purchase, or additions to the stock of such goods, wares or merchandise within sixty days before the filing of such application for a license to conduct such a sale shall be presumptive evidence that such purchase or additions were made in contemplation of such sale and for the purpose of selling them at such sale.

Each sale of goods, wares or merchandise which were not inventoried and described in the original application shall constitute a separate offense under this section.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

The chief of police shall have the power to revoke at any time any permit granted in accordance with this chapter whenever the sale or special sale is being conducted in violation of any of the provisions of this chapter or in such a manner as to deceive or defraud the public, or if:

(1) The holder of any such permit has made any material misstatement in the application for such permit;

(2) The holder has been guilty of any fraudulent practice in the conduct of the sale authorized by such permit;

(3) The holder has failed to include in the inventory the goods, wares or merchandise required to be contained in such inventory;

(4) The holder has added, caused to be added or permitted to be added any goods, wares or merchandise not described in the original inventory;

(5) The holder has violated any of the provisions of this chapter or of the laws pertaining to advertising.

No permit shall be revoked for any cause above enumerated, until a written complaint has first been filed with the chief of police setting forth in ordinary, concise language the charge made against the permittee. Such complaint shall be verified by the oath of the person making the charge, such verification to be in the form prescribed by the state Code of Civil Procedure for verified pleadings in civil actions. Service of such complaint and notice of hearings shall be in the manner prescribed in section 16.23 of this Code.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

The chief of police is empowered to make such rules and regulations for the conduct and advertisement of a sale or special sale as in its opinion will serve to prevent deception and to protect the public.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

Any removal of any goods, wares or merchandise inventoried and described in the original application form from the place of sale mentioned in such application shall cause such goods to lose their identity as the stock of any sale and no permits thereafter will be issued for the conducting of a sale of any such goods, wares or merchandise in such manner as to identify them with the store, store name, store owner or location referred to in the original application.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

Suitable books and records shall be kept by the permittee and shall at all times be available to the inspector and investigators. At the close of business each day, the stock list attached to the application shall be revised and those items disposed of during such day shall be so marked thereon.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

Upon commencement and throughout the duration of any sale, the permit issued by the chief of police shall be prominently displayed near the entrance to the premises. A duplicate original of the application and stock list pursuant to which such permit was issued shall at all times be available to the chief of police, or to his inspector and investigators, to examine all merchandise in the premises for comparison with such stock list.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to or affect the following:

(1) Persons acting pursuant to an order or process of a court of competent jurisdiction;

(2) Persons acting in accordance with their powers and duties as public officers such as sheriffs and marshals;

(3) Duly licensed auctioneers, selling at auction;

(4) Any publisher of a newspaper, magazine or other publication who publishes any such 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.

(Ord. No. 428, §2.)