Saucy Bombay’s location at 2616 E. Colfax Ave. opened in 2018. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
A Denver choose has thrown out a lawsuit that state regulators filed in opposition to an funding dealer and signaled she is going to do the identical to their case in opposition to an Indian restaurant.
In a setback for the company, Decide Sarah Wallace decided the Colorado Division of Securities can sue solely folks and firms who dedicated funding fraud throughout the previous 5 years, rejecting the division’s argument that it’s immune from statutes of limitations.
In mid-April, the Division of Securities sued the securities broker Michael Bissonnette in addition to Bombay Group, which operates Saucy Bombay on East Colfax Avenue. In separate lawsuits, the Division of Securities accused the defendants of deceptive buyers about their grandiose plans for a fast-casual chain after which misspending $380,000 in investor money.
“The buyers on this case actually believed in The Bombay Group and their restaurant Saucy Bombay,” Tung Chan, the state’s securities commissioner, mentioned then. “However as we allege, the buyers weren’t advised the reality in regards to the investments and haven’t been paid again.”
Attorneys for Bissonnette and Bombay Group requested Wallace, who’s presiding over each circumstances, to dismiss them as a result of the alleged misdeeds occurred in 2016 and the Colorado Securities Act, the legislation they have been being sued underneath, has a statute of limitations of 5 years.
Assistant Lawyer Basic Sarah Donahue disagreed, arguing on behalf of Chan that as a result of the legislation permits her to sue “every time it seems to the securities commissioner” that there’s proof of funding fraud, a statute of limitations can’t be imposed on Chan.
On June 27, Wallace disagreed.
“A discovering that the statute of limitations within the Colorado Securities Act which applies to all individuals doesn’t apply to the commissioner can be opposite to settled case legislation in Colorado,” the choose wrote, including that it might be “absurd” to exempt the Division of Securities.
With that, Wallace dismissed the case in opposition to Bissonnette. She has not but dominated on Bombay Group’s comparable movement to dismiss, which was filed a number of weeks after Bissonnette’s, however that case includes the identical allegations from 2016, so it can presumably be dismissed.
“Coloradans misplaced lots of of hundreds of {dollars} due to Bisonnette’s lies and materials omissions,” Chan mentioned Tuesday. “We consider the courtroom’s holding is improper and dangerous to investor protections underneath the Colorado Securities Act. We’re contemplating our choices.”
Bombay Group is represented by Alan Friedberg with Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti in Boulder. Bissonnette’s attorneys are Paul Vorndran and Javier Heres at Jones & Keller.
“We consider Decide Wallace’s order rightfully dismissed the commissioner’s try at circumventing long-established Colorado legislation requiring that the federal government be held to the identical requirements as some other litigant,” Vorndran advised BusinessDen this week.
“We intend to vigorously defend our purchasers in opposition to any additional makes an attempt by the commissioner to undermine these elementary authorized protections,” Bissonnette’s lawyer added.