Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Are expiration dates on gift certificates legal?

According to CA Civil Code 1749.5, ""On or after 1-1-97, it is UNLAWFUL for any person or entity to sell a gift certificate to a purchaser containing an expiration date. Any gift certificate sold after that date shall be redeemable in cash for its cash value, or subject to replacement with a new gift certificate at no cost to the purchaser or holder." There are a few exceptions (if given for free, in a volume discount to employees, etc., or for food - none of these apply to you). So long as your kids bought the certificate after 1-1-97, you/they are entitled to the full amount of $400.00. Please contact me if you need help enforcing the law. Thanks for your question and good luck.

Re: Are expiration dates on gift certificates legal?

The only catch may be that the person or entity who owns the property now may not be the same as the owner from whom your children purchased the gift certificate. You should show the owner Civil Code Section 1749.5 and see if he tells you that a different entity sold the certificate. If not, you should be o.k. If so, you will need to convince a small claims court that the new owner is obligated to honor the certificate under a continuing business theory.

Re: Are expiration dates on gift certificates legal?

Your question really should have been rejected because it contains the name of a party, which is a violation of LawGuru policy. Given that it has already been answered there is nothing I can do to get it off the system, so I'll offer you the best short answer I can. Messrs. Atanous and Beauchamp have given good responses but there is an added nuance you need to understand.

By law, Gift certificates sold in California since 1997 cannot expire. The entity which sold them must either honor them or refund the full purchase price. The key question here is whether the B&B's current management is the successor to the entity which issued the certificate.

If the new owner purchased the business of the old owner then it must honor the certificate, because it is the same entity. If it merely purchased the property -- e.g., if the old owner still exists but disposed of this one piece of real estate -- it need not honor the certificate, but the issuer must give you a refund. Hopefully the issuer got enough money from selling the property to be able to do this.

The conversation you describe suggests that new management would honor certificates from the old management if they had not yet reached the six month "expiration" date, so it sounds like they may be relying more on the timing than on the change in ownership.

Re: Are expiration dates on gift certificates legal?

Go to small claims court. Tell them that you tried to use, but were denied. Hope for the best.