Pawn shops ordered to superior court

Three pawn shops have been ordered to appear in Whitman County Superior Court March 5 to prove why they should not return jewelry items originally sought in a suit filed against a Colfax couple, Anthony and Alicia Napier. The action was expanded to involve the pawn shops after Anthony Napier appeared in court, as ordered, Feb. 12.

Napier told the court he no longer had the jewelry and was allowed two hours to inform Howard Neill, Pullman attorney, where the jewelry was located. Napier was allowed until the end of the day to provide Neill with a list of all the jewelry items and their location.

Neill has filed the suit for Harry Richie’s Jewelers. It contends the Napiers purchased jewelry items under a retail charge agreement. The civil suit alleges the Napiers failed to keep up with payments and owed $39,156 as of the end of November, 2009.

The suit also alleges security interest in the jewelry items was assigned to Richies under terms of the agreement.

Listed in the show cause order were Double Eagle Pawn, Inc., Millman Jewelers E-Z Loan, Inc., and Pawn I Inc. They have been ordered to show cause why they should not turn over the jewelry to Neill. In the alternative, Neill asked the court to order the firms to pay damages of $4,599 each from Double Eagle and Millman and $45,948 from Pawn 1, Inc.