AGAPITOV

I. Introduction

This appeal raises the issue whether article XV of the California Constitution (article XV) exempts all loans made by pawnbrokers from its provision against usury, or only exempts pawn transactions within the scope of the pawnbroker license. Defendant, a licensed pawnbroker, appeals a judgment based on a finding that he loaned money at a usurious interest rate to a neighbor in a nonpawn transaction. Defendant claims the benefit of an exemption from the prohibition against usury in article XV. This loan, however, was not a pawn transaction, did not comply with statutory requirements for pawn transactions, and was not within the scope of defendant’s pawnbroker license. The constitutional provision against usury protects borrowers from excessive interest rates. To exempt nonpawn loans by pawnbrokers from the provision against usury would weaken this protection. Defendant has not shown that this loan qualifies for the exemption from the usury provision. We therefore affirm a judgment in favor of plaintiffs.

II. Factual and Procedural History

Plaintiffs Vladimir Agapitov and Lidia Agapitov filed a complaint against defendant Alexander Lerner. A cause of…