AGO 98027.

• Court: Nebraska

Nebraska Attorney General Opinions 1998. AGO 98027. DATE: June 19, 1998SUBJECT: Possession Requirements Under Nebraska Pawnbroker StatutesREQUESTED BY: James A. Hansen, Director Department of Banking and FinanceWRITTEN BY: Don Stenberg, Attorney General Fredrick F. Neid, Assistant Attorney General This is in response to your request for an opinion of the Attorney General relating to the "possession" requirements for pawnbroking transactions under Nebraska Statutes. Reportedly, the transaction you have inquired about involves a lending arrangement with an automobile pledged as security for the underlying loan. The lender has not taken actual and physical possession of the automobile but has taken possession of the automobile certificate of title. The specific question you pose is whether a pawnbroker must "have physical possession of an automobile to fulfill the requirements of 'possession' under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-201, or may a pawnbroker maintain 'possession' by simply holding an automobile title and nothing more?" Under the limited facts you describe, we believe that a pawnbroker is required to have actual possession of the automobile in order for the lending arrangement to constitute a pawnbroking transaction under Nebraska law. The term "pawnbroker" is defined under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-201 (1996) to mean: Any person engaged in the business of lending money upon chattel property for security and requiring possession of the property so mortgaged on condition of returning the same upon payment of a stipulated amount of money, or purchasing property on condition of selling it back at a stipulated price, is declared to be a pawnbroker for the purpose of sections 69-201 to 69-210. (Emphasis added). In the first instance, the express language of the statute is looked to in order to determine its meaning. The language of § 69-201 is direct and clear, that a pawnbroker is a person engaged in the business of lending money upon chattel property and requiring possession of the mortgaged property. In construing a statute, a court determines and gives effect to the purpose and intent of the legislature as ascertained from the language of the statute, considered in its plain, ordinary, and popular sense. Nickel v. Saline County School District No. 163, 251 Neb. 762, 559 N.W.2d 480 (1997); Becker v. Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure...