EXPOSING

August and September passed and no shielding was completed. I received a copy of a memorandum around October 4th or 5th from the City of Golden to the dealership. It was dated October 3, 2002 (plaintiff exhibit #9). The last paragraph says the T.C.O. (temporary certificate of occupancy) had expired and the lighting issue had not been resolved, and it had to be resolved before issuing the final building certificate of occupancy. The whole month of October went by and no shielding had been completed. By this time, I was tired of people dragging their heels, and so I called around and talked to a lawyer to see if I had the right to sue the dealership over the light problem. He said yes, but before I did, I needed to write a letter to the dealership outlining the ordinance violations, and to give them 14 days to respond in writing saying what they are going to do to fix the lights, and a timeline for when it would be done. So I wrote the letter, dated November 6, 2002, and sent it certified mail so that I would have record of it (plaintiffs exhibit #10). I never received a response from the Elway dealerships, and none of the lights were shielded correctly the entire month of November 2002, Due to the lack of response, I filed a lawsuit in small claims court on December 4, 2002, asking a judge to order the dealership to fix their lights (plaintiffs exhibit #11). I thought a judge was a judge, was a judge. Boy was I wrong.

Five poles of fixtures were shielded correctly on January 23, 2003, leaving six or more poles of fixtures unshielded on the front lot. (Click on photo for larger image.)

Again, no lights were shielded the entire month of December. Finally, on January 23, 2003, one person shielded the light fixtures on 7 poles (5 on the front lot and 2 on the back lot) correctly with 4-sided shields. It took 1 day to shield roughly 1/3rd of the lights. Then the piece of equipment used to lift the guy up in the air was picked up and hauled away. I went to the building department and asked about the rest of the lights. Chuck Hearn said “that’s as good as it’s going to get,” but he had a letter for me that I could pick up while I was there. The letter, dated January 23, 2003, stated that in December 2002, city staff, the dealerships general manager and their attorney came to an agreement of which lights were a problem and needed the shielding. (plaintiffs exhibit #12)

Car is parked on the public sidewalk in late fall 2002. Parking ordinance violation in City of Golden and entire State of Colorado. (Click on photo for larger image.)

The court date in February for small claims court was postponed until May 2003. In May, I went to court and met with the dealerships general managers and their attorney. I represented myself. You are supposed to exchange copies of evidence with opposing parties before the hearing, so I gave their attorney copies of city ordinances, pictures of the light fixtures and of the light in my house, taken by a photographer I had hired. Then I asked their attorney if he had anything for me. He said yes, reached into his briefcase and pulled out 1 piece of paper for his evidence of defense and handed it to me. It was a copy of the Final Certificate of Occupancy, issued to John Elway
Subaru West. It certified that the dealership was in compliance with
all city ordinances on the day it was issued.