As previously covered on Minnesota Litigator here, Plaintiff Pawn America was well on its way to opening a pawn shop in St. Louis Park (“SLP”) but residents got wind of the plan, voiced their opposition, and SLP’s Mayor and City Council imposed an “interim moratorium” on the issuance of pawn shop licences, stopping Pawn America in its tracks.
The situation went from bad to worse for Pawn America, when the city subsequently adopted a permanent ordinance with restrictions that permanently barred Pawn America’s proposed pawn shop at the proposed location (due to its proximity to residentially zoned property).
Neither the Hennepin County District Court, the Minnesota Court of Appeals (over a dissent by Judge Lawrence B. Stauber, Jr.) nor, this week, the Minnesota Supreme Court (in an opinion by Justice G. Barry Anderson) have been sympathetic to Pawn America’s plight.
Though there is the theoretical option of a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, this is probably the end of the the road for Pawn America’s efforts to open a pawn shop as proposed in St. Louis Park although the presence of a “Pawn America Outlet Store” at the same location might suggest a Pyrrhic victory for the city.