Steffey v. City of Casper

• Decision Date: 29 November 1960
• Docket Number: 2933,Nos. 2908,2920,s. 2908
• Citation: Steffey v. City of Casper, 357 P.2d 456 (Wyo. 1960)
• Parties: Paul E. STEFFEY, L. Louise Steffey and Florence Slack, Partners, doing business under the name and style of Zephyr Cleaners, The Sperry and Hutchinson Company, a corporation, and Gold Bond Stamps, Inc., a corporation, Appellants (Plaintiffs below), v. CITY OF CASPER, a municipal corporation, W. S. Anderson, Mayor of the City of Casper, Paul Danigan, Chief of Police of the City of Casper, and Frank Bowron, Municipal Magistrate of the City of Casper, as agents of the City of Casper, Natrona County, Wyoming, Appellees (Defendants below). CASPER COMMISSARY, INC. et al., Appellants (Intervenors below), v. GOLD BOND STAMPS, INC., a Corporation, et al., Appellees (Plaintiffs below), and Thomas O. Miller, Attorney General of the State of Wyoming, et al., Appellees (Defendants below). Norman B. GRAY (substituted for Thomas O. Miller), Attorney General of the State of Wyoming; Bernard E. Cole, County and Prosecuting Attorney, Laramie County, Wyoming; Norbert E. Tuck, Sheriff, Laramie County, Wyoming, Appellants (Defendants below), v. GOLD BOND STAMPS, INC., a Corporation; National Gift Seal Company of Wyoming, a Corporation; Pioneer Savings Stamps, Inc., of Colorado, a Corporation; The Sperry and Hutchinson Company, a Corporation, Appellees (Plaintiffs below).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 456

357 P.2d 456

Paul E. STEFFEY, L. Louise Steffey and Florence Slack, Partners, doing business under the name and style of Zephyr Cleaners, The Sperry and Hutchinson Company, a corporation, and Gold Bond Stamps, Inc., a corporation, Appellants (Plaintiffs below), v.CITY OF CASPER, a municipal corporation, W. S. Anderson, Mayor of the City of Casper, Paul Danigan, Chief of Police of the City of Casper, and Frank Bowron, MunicipalMagistrate of the City of Casper, as agents of the City of Casper, Natrona County, Wyoming, Appellees (Defendants below).

CASPER COMMISSARY, INC. et al., Appellants (Intervenors below), v.GOLD BOND STAMPS, INC., a Corporation, et al., Appellees (Plaintiffs below), andThomas O. Miller, Attorney General of the State of Wyoming, et al., Appellees (Defendants below).

Norman B. GRAY (substituted for Thomas O. Miller), Attorney General of the State of Wyoming; Bernard E. Cole, County and ProsecutingAttorney, Laramie County, Wyoming; Norbert E. Tuck, Sheriff, Laramie County, Wyoming, Appellants (Defendants below), v.GOLD BOND STAMPS, INC., a Corporation; National Gift Seal Company of Wyoming, a Corporation; Pioneer Savings Stamps, Inc., of Colorado, a Corporation; The Sperry and Hutchinson Company, a Corporation, Appellees (Plaintiffs below).

Nos. 2908, 2920, 2933.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Nov. 29, 1960.

On Rehearing Jan. 23, 1961.

See 358 P.2d 951.

No. 2908:

Robert A. Burgess, W. J. Wehrli, Houston G. Williams, Casper, John U. Loomis, Cheyenne, Robert W. Sweet and Donald W. Dowd, New York City, Donald C. Rogers, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellants.

Rose, Rose & Fisher, Casper, for appellees.

No. 2920:

Rose, Rose & Fisher, Casper, for appellants.

Robert A. Burgess, Casper, Loomis, Lazear & Wilson, Cheyenne, W. J. Wehrli and Houston G. Williams, Casper, Guy & Phelan, Cheyenne, Casey, Lane & Mittendorf, New York City, and Donald C. Rogers, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellees.

No. 2933:

Norman B. Gray, Atty. Gen., and Bernard E. Cole, County and Pros.Atty., Cheyenne, for appellants.

Guy & Phelan and Loomis, Lazear & Wilson, Cheyenne, W. J. Wehrli and Winter, Burgess & Forrister, Casper, Casey, Lane & Mittendorf, New York City, and Levitt, Palmer & Rogers, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellees.

Before BLUME, C. J., and PARKER and HARNSBERGER, JJ.

Mr. Chief Justice BLUMEdelivered the opinion of the court.

Two cases involving the validity of the so-called trading stamps were consolidated for hearing in this court.In one of these cases, from Laramie County, called the Cheyenne case, Gold Bond Stamps, Inc., et al., were plaintiffs and the Attorney General and the County and Prosecuting Attorney and Sheriff of Laramie County were defendants.The plaintiffs in this case alleged the invalidity of Ch. 84, S. L. of Wyoming, 1959, prohibiting, with certain exceptions, the use of trading stamps, and asked that the defendants be forbidden to enforce the statute.The court granted the prayer of plaintiffs and held the statute unconstitutional as depriving the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws and depriving them of their property without due process of law.The defendants have appealed.In the second case, from Natrona County, called the Casper case, Paul E. Steffey and others were plaintiffs and the City of Casper and officers thereof were defendants in an action in which the plaintiffs sought to prevent the enforcement of an ordinance of the City of Casper passed July 21, 1958, prohibiting, with certain exceptions, the use of trading stamps.The ordinance is very similar to the statute above mentioned, and need not be set out herein.The trial court of Natrona County held the ordinance valid and an appeal was taken from that holding.In that case a good deal of evidence was taken and by stipulation was made a part of the Cheyenne case.It is not, we think, necessary to set out this testimony except incidentally as we proceed in this opinion.

Ch. 84, supra, provides:

'Issuance of Trading Stamps Unlawful

'Section 1.It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association or corporation to use, issue, or distribute, or for any person, firm, association or corporation to furnish to any other person, firm, association or corporation to use, issue or distribute, in, with, or for the sale of goods, wares, merchandise or service, any stamps, coupons, tickets, certificates, cards, or other similar devices, which shall entitle the purchaser receiving the same with the sale of goods, wares, merchandise or service to procure from any person, firm, association or corporation, any goods, wares, merchandise or service upon the production of any number of such stamps, coupons, tickets, certificates, cards or other similar devices.

'Exceptions To Act

'Section 2.This Act shall not apply to the use, issuance, distribution, furnishing or redemption of any coupon, ticket, certificate, card or other similar device which is;

'(a) issued, distributed, furnished or redeemed by a manufacturer or packer in connection with the sale of its manufactured or packed products, when such coupon, ticket, certificate, card or other similar device is redeemable, without or accompanying cash not exceeding Five Dollars ($5.00) for any product of said manufacturer or packer or for one specified and particular product not manufactured or packed by said manufacturer or packer;

'(b) issued, distributed, furnished or redeemed by a merchant when such coupon, ticket, certificate, card, or other similar device is redeemable at face value, in cash or merchandise from the general stock of said merchant at regular retail prices at the option of the holder thereof.'

Section 3 provides for penalty of violation of the statute and need not be set out herein.Section 4 of the Act provides as follows:

'Provisions of Act Severable

'Section 4.If any sentence, clause, provision or section of this Act shall be held unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity or the constitutionality of any other sentence, clause, provision or section herein contained and it shall be conclusively presumed that the legislature would have enacted the remainder of this Act without the sentence, clause, provision or section so held unconstitutional.'

The parties in the Cheyenne case entered into a stipulation of facts.These facts would seem to be applicable also in the Casper case.Leaving out nonessentials the stipulation provides: The plaintiffs are engaged in the business of furnishing trading stamps to merchants and the manner of conducting the business is about as follows: Plaintiffs enter into a contract with retail merchants under which plaintiffs are obligated to furnish these merchants with trading stamps, books to be given to collectors of these stamps and catalogs of merchandise available to stamp collectors.Under the contract plaintiffs are obligated to redeem the trading stamps in exchange for goods or merchandise in accordance with the contracts, the stamp collectors' books and the merchandise catalogs.The purchaser of these stamps agrees to use them in his business, to issue to each customer paying cash one stamp for each ten cents represented in such payment, and to give to his customers books and catalogs mentioned above.A customer paying cash collects the stamps and pastes them in the stamp collector's book.When at least one book has been filled, the customer may surrender it to the respective plaintiff issuing the stamps for redemption in merchandise as mentioned in the catalog.All customers paying cash receive stamps on an equal and uniform basis and are able to ascertain definitely the value of the stamps by reference to the merchandise redemption catalogs.The plaintiffs are in competition with each other.The trading stamps of one plaintiff are not interchangeable with those of any other.There are 225 companies throughout the United States issuing trading stamps.They have annual sales of over 600 million dollars and trading stamps are now being saved by over half of the families in the United States.In the calendar year 1958 the licensees of plaintiffs issued approximately 250 million stamps of the plaintiffs to consumers in the State of Wyoming, many of which are still in the hands of such consumers in partially completed stamp collectors' books.Gold Bond has 12,000 licensees throughout the United States; Red Stamps, 1,500; Pioneer Stamps, 300; and Sperry & Hutchinson, over 62,000.From 1,020 to 1,500 stamps are required to fill a book.The catalogs include some 500 to 700 items of merchandise and roughly 1,000 additional items are available which are not described in the catalogs.The merchants having contracts with the trading stamp companies pay the plaintiffs for the right to use their stamps at the rate of two to three percent of the total sales.Trading stamps supplied by the plaintiffs are but one of the promotional devices used by merchants throughout the State of Wyoming in the past and present.Other trade promotional devices are cash discounts, trading stamps and coupons of manufacturers, trading stamps of the issuing merchant redeemable in cash or from his stock of goods and other advertising and promotional devices.The profits from the contracts of the plaintiffs with the merchants result from the difference between the total income received and the total of the cost of the merchandise redeemed and the cost of operation including salaries, plants and equipment, advertising and other operating expenses.Not all the trading stamps issued by the merchants are redeemed.That is true in connection with five to ten percent as appears from the allowance made by the Treasury Department of the United States.Plaintiffs have expended nationally in the calendar year of 1958 over three million dollars in advertising, developing and popularizing their trading stamp systems.They expend annually ninety thousand dollars in the State of Wyoming in advertising these stamps.The operation of...