Court Opinion

ID: 9853964
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:58:30.818517+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:24.563439
License: Public Domain

BAKES, Chief Justice,
dissenting:
As to Part III of the majority opinion, I respectfully dissent.
The majority concludes in its opinion that the collection of a debt arising from the sale of goods or services is subject to the provisions of Idaho’s Consumer Protection Act. That conclusion is based on the legislature’s statement that in construing the Act “due consideration and great weight shall be given to the interpretation of the Federal Trade Commission and the federal courts,” relating to the Federal Trade Commission Act. I.C. § 48-604(1); ante at 401, 788 P.2d at 216. From this statement the majority infers a legislative intent to construe the Act liberally to effectuate the Act’s purposes, i.e., “to deter deceptive or unfair trade practices and to provide relief for consumers exposed to proscribed practices.” Ante at 401, 788 P.2d at 216. With this framework in mind the majority states, “It is the sale that brings the debt into existence that is the crucial event. Debts that do not arise out of the sale of goods and services subject to the provisions of the Act are not covered.” Ante at 401, *404788 P.2d at 216. In my view these reasons, neither independently nor collectively, are sufficient to overcome the plain wording of the statute.
First, a general admonition to construe the Act liberally, if that admonition in fact be warranted, is not a license to augment, alter or expand the plain words of the statute. The cardinal rule of statutory construction is that where a statute is plain, clear and unambiguous, we are constrained to follow that plain meaning and neither add to the statute nor take away by judicial construction. Moon v. Investment Board, 97 Idaho 595, 548 P.2d 861 (1976); Higginson v. Westergard, 100 Idaho 687, 604 P.2d 51 (1979). Subsection (2) of I.C. § 48-602, as noted by the majority, sets forth the definition of trade or commerce. That section provides:
(2) “Trade” and “commerce” means the advertising, offering for sale, sale, or distribution or any goods or services, directly or indirectly affecting the people of this state.
The record in this case demonstrates that WAC did not advertise, did not offer for sale, and did not sell or distribute any goods or services, directly or indirectly affecting the people of this state. As the majority opinion itself recognizes, “(WAC) is in the business of purchasing past due accounts receivable and dishonored checks from merchants.” Ante at 399-400,788 P.2d at 214-15. It appears self evident that WAC does not fit within the plain meaning of the statutory definition of trade or commerce, and this reading takes on more credibility when read in conjunction with the list of seventeen prohibited activities entitled “unfair methods and practices” at I.C. § 48-603. Neither the respondent in this case, nor the majority opinion, indicates which of these provisions would be applicable to WAC, even if we assume WAC is covered by the Act. The seventeen listed prohibitions all deal in some manner with unfair and deceptive practices used by sellers to effect a sale. Subsection (17) of I.C. § 48-603, the Act’s “catchall” provision, reads: “(17) Engaging in any act or practice which is otherwise misleading, false, or deceptive to the consumer.’’ (Emphasis added.) The term “consumer” is a relational term. The thirty-six petitioners in this case were all at one point consumers in relation to a particular merchant or seller, but they are not consumers with respect to their relation to WAC. Therefore, not even the Act’s catchall provision would be applicable to the activities and conduct of WAC. It therefore makes no sense to say that WAC is covered by the Act when none of the Act’s prohibitions are even remotely applicable to WAC.
It is true that “due consideration and great weight” are to be given to the rulings of the FTC and the federal courts in their interpretation of similar provisions under the federal Act, but too much weight is given to FTC rulings when those rulings are predicated on provisions of the federal Act dissimilar to Idaho’s. The definition of “trade and commerce,” as explained above, deals with the advertising, distribution, and sale of goods and services. That definition differs substantially from the language contained in the federal counterpart which speaks in terms of conduct or practices “in or affecting commerce.” 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1). Whereas Idaho’s definition narrowly focuses on the activities of sellers, the broader definition contained in the federal Act could reasonably be interpreted to encompass debt collection activities which certainly may “affect commerce.”
Most troubling, however, is the majority’s statement that, “It is the sale that brings the debt into existence that is the crucial event. Debts that do not arise out of the sale of goods and services subject to the provisions of the Act are not covered.” Ante at 401, 788 P.2d at 216. If debt collection activities are brought within the Act’s umbrella merely because they “arise out of” an underlying sale, can we thereby assume that any activities bearing some connection to a sale, no matter how remote or attenuated the connection may be, are within the Act’s coverage? Is an attorney, retained by a seller to bring suit to enforce payment of a delinquent debt, subject to the Act’s coverage? Is a person or business exercising self-help rights of repossession under the UCC, an area permeated *405with deceptive tactics, within the Act’s amorphous scope? In my opinion, these activities, like those of WAC in the instant case, would not be covered by the Act because the plain words of the statute cannot be construed reasonably to cover such activities.