I am suing General Steel in small claims court to have a contract
voided and my deposit money refunded.  The gist of my complaint is
that General Steel lied to me in their price quote.  General Steel was
previously charged with violations of the Colorado Consumer Protection
Act and they were found guilty (see the link provided for the judgment
against them) http://www.ago.state.co.us/pdf/GeneralSteelJudgment.pdf.

The judgment against General Steel requires them to amend their
contract in a specific way (see page 39, item 6 of the judgment, text
included below).  They did not amend their contract in compliance with
the judgment.  Because they failed to amend their contract as ordered,
I maintain that the contract is unenforceable.

Here is the question: General Steel appealed their conviction, and
that appeal is still pending.  Is the existing judgment in effect
during the appeal, or is it suspended, i.e. can I use the judgment as
a basis for an argument in small claims court that the contract is
unenforceable?

If you answer this, please fortify your answer with case law, or
statute citation to back it up.

?6. General Steel must submit to the Court within 60 days of the date
of this order, after first conferring with an appropriate
representative of the State, a revised form of purchase order. The
current first page shall be revised so as to state in readable, clear
and unambiguous language what is included and not included in the
contract price. This will include, at a minimum, plain language
indicating that the listed accessories and components are not included
unless expressly checked off as included. The Conditions shall be set
forth on separate pages. They will be set forth in a minimum 12-point
font. Each separate condition (which may include more than one
sentence but should be limited to one subject matter) shall be
separately set forth in a numbered paragraph. There shall be a space
between the numbered paragraphs. To the left of each numbered
paragraph shall be placed a line for the consumer to initial that he
has read, understood and accepted the condition. No condition will be
enforceable unless the consumer initials it. The State will have 30
days to register any objection to the form of the purchase order, and
if there is a dispute, the parties may set a hearing. To any extent
this order is inconsistent with the preliminary injunction, this order
governs. ?

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Request for Question Clarification by hagan-ga on 12 May 2006 06:43 PDT

Wayne, what an interesting question!  I would enjoy researching and
answering this, but I need a little more information -- is your small
claims court action in Colorado?  If not, where is it?

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Clarification of Question by wayne_taylor-ga on 12 May 2006 07:36 PDT

I am suing in small claims court in Ridgecrest, California.  That is Kern county.

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Request for Question Clarification by hagan-ga on 12 May 2006 08:44 PDT

Oh my goodness, Wayne, I am very familiar with Ridgecrest, as I lived
in the Eastern Sierra for 8 years.  THanks for the clarification, and
I'm off to work on your question now.

Wayne, the answer to your question is found in Rule 62 of the Colorado
Court Rules, available on the Web at
http://198.187.128.12/colorado/lpext.dll/Infobase1/1/3/130d/1909?f=templates&fn=fs-main-doc.htm&q=appeals&x=Advanced&2.0#LPHit1

Rule 62 provides that there is NO automatic stay of an injunction
pending appeal.  Instead, it is up to the trial court to determine
whether to modify or suspend the injunction, and whether to require an
appeal bond as a condition of modifying or suspending an injunction. 
Having read the trial court's opinion at the link you provided, I
would be very surprised indeed if this judge agreed to suspend his
order pending appeal.

You might also find this interesting:  the Attorney General of
California's case against General Steel is apparently pending before
the Superior Court of the County of Sacramento, as Case No. 05AS03689,
PEOPLE OF THE ST OF CA VS. GENERAL STEEL DOMESTIC SALES, ET AL. 
General Steel lost a motion to quash service in January of this year: 
http://www.saccourt.com/courtrooms/trulings/dept53/d53-2006-0113-0200.pdf
You can get the status of the case by mail with a small fee: 
http://www.saccourt.com/civil/status/status.asp

Best of luck with your case.  If I can provide any further
clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.

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Request for Answer Clarification by wayne_taylor-ga on 13 May 2006 14:22 PDT

Hagan,

As I said in the review, excellent work!

Can you provide a definitive answer as to whether the Colorado judge
in this case suspended his order during the (currently ongoing)
appeal?

General Steel's lawyer called me with a threat to have a GS employee
appear at the small claims proceeding (scheduled for May 22, 2006 in
Ridgecrest) and have the case moved to Arbitration in Denver, Co.  The
"conditions" page of the contract contains a clause that says, "any
dispute between the parties will be settled by arbitration in Denver,
Co".  That is why I am so keen on the answer to this question.  If
Judge Jackson's ruling is in force, then the conditions page of the
contract that I signed is unenforcable, hence the Ridgecrest small
claims court has jurisdiction.

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Clarification of Answer by hagan-ga on 15 May 2006 09:38 PDT

Hello again!  Thank you for the kind comments and the generous tip;
I'm delighted I was able to be of help.

The Colorado Attorney General's website does not indicate that the
ruling has been suspended or stayed. 
http://www.ago.state.co.us/index.cfm
I tried contacting the AG, but there is a recorded message indicating
that due to the high volume of calls, they are not taking any
telephone calls about the General Steel case.

The 1st Judicial District has a website: 
http://www.courts.state.co.us/district/01st/dist01.htm
There are also fee-based sites that allow you to search court files.  
This page on the Court site lists them:
http://www.courts.state.co.us/panda/publicaccess/ctrecords.htm
If the judge issued an order staying enforcement of the injunction
pending appeal, any such order would be in the court file.

Best of luck, and thanks again!

hagan,  

excellent work!  i will probably be asking you for some more help, so
stand by please.