Opinion ID: 2202443
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: beard ii

Text: In Beard II, Beard and Ms. Elam allege that several of the merchants failed to comply with 16 DCMR § 102.1 (1984), which provides as follows: Any person who is a retail seller or a sales finance company shall register with the Office of Consumer Protection (Office) as provided in this section. Relying on Family Construction v. District of Columbia Dep't of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, 484 A.2d 250 (D.C. 1984), as well as a number of other authorities in which contracts by unlicensed entrepreneurs have been held to be void, these appellants contend that the merchants must return all moneys paid to them for goods sold while the merchants were unregistered, but that the purchasers are entitled to retain the goods. Judge Hannon rejected this somewhat extravagant theory and granted summary judgment in favor of the merchants. The regulations governing credit retailers of which § 16-102.1 is a part contain a somewhat complex enforcement scheme. The Office of Consumer Protection may seek cease and desist orders. §§ 16-121.1 through 16-121.12. The Corporation Counsel may institute civil proceedings to enforce orders of the Office of Consumer Protection. §§ 16-121.10, -121.11. One who violates any provision of the credit retailer regulations may be fined up to $300 or imprisoned for no more than ten days. § 16-122.1. The remedies provided in these regulations are not mutually exclusive. § 16-122.2. Finally, [n]othing in this chapter shall prevent any person from exercising any right or seeking any remedy to which he [or she] might otherwise be entitled or from filing any complaint with any other agency. § 16-122.3 Conspicuously absent from these regulations are the kinds of rights and remedies which appellants ask us to recognize in Beard II. There is no provision authorizing a private party to bring an action in the Superior Court to enforce the regulations, see Cannon v. Univ. of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 717 (1979); In re D.G., 583 A.2d 160, 166-68 (D.C.1990), nor is there any suggestion that all contracts made while a retailer is unregistered must automatically be treated as void. Generally, a person who has suffered no injury lacks standing to bring a civil action, Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499, 507-08, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2205, 2209-10, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975) (requiring showing of injury in fact ) and nothing in these regulations indicates any disposition on the part of those who wrote these regulations to provide for a different rule. So far as can be discerned from the text, the drafters contemplated enforcement by public officials or through privately initiated administrative proceedings. They also provided for relatively modest penal sanctions. There is no suggestion that civil actions for drastic forfeitures were contemplated. Appellants acknowledge with commendable candor that they have suffered no injury attributable to the merchants' alleged noncompliance with § 16-102.1. [14] They maintain, however, that the return of these funds without quantum meruit is a judicial policy devised to assure compliance with the law although the consumer has suffered no damage. This remedy  get your money back but hang on to the merchandise  would presumably be available, under appellants' theory, to anyone who bought anything on credit (or even, perhaps, for cash) from a retail merchant during the period of non-registration. We surely understate the obvious when we suggest that if, say, Hecht's or Woodward & Lothrop were unregistered for a single Christmas shopping season, the cost of that failure to register would be sufficient to cause quite a stir. We discern nothing in these regulations, or in the legislation which they were designed to implement, [15] that would support the notion that such a remedy was intended to be available to a party who can demonstrate no injury whatever. Equity abhors forfeitures. Berg v. Slaff, 125 A.2d 844, 846 (D.C.1956). Statutes or regulations which impose forfeitures, or which provide for sanctions disproportionate to the violations or to the damage done, are penal in nature and must be strictly construed. See generally 3 N. SINGER, SUTHERLAND STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION § 59.02, at 7-8 (4th ed. 1986). This principle has been applied to consumer credit statutes, see, e.g., Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Gamez, 617 S.W.2d 720, 722 (Tex. Civ.App.1980), as well as to licensing requirements of various kinds. Clymer v. Zane, 128 Ohio St. 359, 364, 191 N.E. 123, 126 (1934); Bottomley v. Coffin, 399 A.2d 485, 488 (R.I.1979). Accordingly, the authority to impose a forfeiture should not be lightly inferred, but should be found to exist only if it is clearly articulated in the authorizing legislation or regulations. Cf. District of Columbia v. Riggs Nat'l Bank, 581 A.2d 1229, 1262 (D.C.1990). The legislation pursuant to which the retail credit regulations were promulgated provides that  any consumer who suffers any damage as a result of [an unlawful trade practice] shall be entitled to various kinds of enumerated relief. D.C.Code § 28-3905(k)(1) (1981). Obviously, suffering damage is a condition precedent to suit, and one who has not been injured cannot sue under this statute for any relief whatever. Nothing in the regulations purports to extend the statutory right to such relief, or, indeed, to any remedy, to an individual who has suffered no injury. In Curry v. Dunbar House, Inc., 362 A.2d 686, 690-91 (D.C.1976), a case in which tenants were seeking relief from their obligation to pay rent because the landlord had failed to secure a housing business license or a certificate of occupancy, this court held that equitable principles require that the tenants be relieved of their legal obligations to pay rent only to the extent that they actually were harmed. The same principle applies here. Family Construction, on which appellants rely, does not require a contrary result. In that case, a homeowner complained to the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs that a contractor who had failed to register as a credit retailer failed to comply with his obligations to her pursuant to a contract to install windows in her home. The homeowner made a down-payment of $1,000 pursuant to an installment contract. When the contractor failed to make timely delivery of the windows, an administrative law judge held that the homeowner was entitled to void the contract, to recover her down payment, and to require the contractor to restore her premises to their previous condition. In affirming that order, we noted, inter alia, that [t]his court has consistently held that a contract made in violation of a statute designed for police or regulatory purposes is void and does not confer rights upon a wrongdoer. Family Construction, supra, 484 A.2d at 254. Family Construction did not present the question which we are addressing here, namely, whether a consumer who claims no injury whatever as a result of a transaction with a retailer who was not registered at the time thereof is entitled to have his contract voided on the basis of the nonregistration alone. It is inconceivable to us that the quoted language from Family Construction was designed to apply to a case like this one. [16] Accordingly, we affirm Judge Hannon's award of summary judgment with respect to this claim. [17]