Woman wins judgment against Denver jewelry store over unlicensed scale: "You have to advocate for yourself"

In late 2024, Chrisanne Grimaldi was facing a common problem. The 60-year-old Denver resident was drowning in medical debt totaling $80,000 and needed cash to pay down her debt.

"I had a candelabra, an 18-karat gold necklace, a lot of sterling, odds and ends," she told CBS News Colorado. "I think it was good stuff."

So she located a jewelry store in the city's Cherry Creek North neighborhood that bought precious metals by weight.

She took her belongings to David Ellis jewelers and left with a check for more than $16,000. But she said something about the transaction felt "off" to her. She said when store personnel weighed her belongings, they took them to another room and weighed them out of her sight.

"I had alarm bells ringing," said Grimaldi.

Knowing state rules and regulations about how businesses have to get their scales inspected and certified by the Colorado Department of Agriculture, she later asked the store to show her their state certification for their scale, but says they refused and became irate.

As it turned out, state records showed the store had never had their scales certified and inspected, even though the store has been operating for decades, according to their own statements.

Any Colorado business that buys or sells by weight -- from pawn shops and jewelry stores to grocery stores and pot shops -- is required to have certified scales and undergo a state inspection every year, according to Aaron Yanker, the weights and measures program manager within the Department of Agriculture. His agency said they found no record in their database of David Ellis jewelers ever applying for a license for their scale.

"We never showed them being licensed," said Yanker.

"We want the business to get a fair shake but we also want the consumer to get a fair shake," said Yanker. "So that way when they (consumers) are out in public and they're purchasing their goods ... they have confidence they're being priced correctly."

He said his department has 14 inspectors who cover the state, inspecting and certifying scales at commercial businesses. Asked if the long standing jewelry business maybe just didn't know state regulations, Yanker said, "We run into that with every industry where the business or the owner of the business may not know."

Suspicious of what happened to her, Grimaldi filed complaints against David Ellis jewelers with the Denver Police Department, Colorado Attorney General, Department of Agriculture and she filed in Denver small claims court.

Five months after filing complaints, in March of 2025, the jeweler did obtain certification for its scales after a state inspection. The state did not impose any punishment or sanctions for not having registered years earlier. The state says in a follow-up inspection this month, the store's scales were accurate and in compliance.

Facing a small claims case from Grimaldi, the jewelry store offered her $7,500 to drop the court case.

"David Ellis denies that it did anything wrong concerning Chrisanne," said the store's lawyer, Don McCullough.

He said the store's owner declined to be interviewed by CBS. But the proposed settlement agreement with Grimaldi contained a non-disparagement clause, meaning Grimaldi could not "make any disparaging comments or statements to the press, through social media, online..." Grimaldi said that clause, "really went against everything I was doing this for," as she wanted to educate other consumers. She told the store lawyer she would only consider settling the small claims case for $20,000, an offer that was not accepted. Grimaldi said her primary mission was to create accountability beyond her individual case. She told the store's lawyer that without a settlement agreement, she planned to speak to the media about the store's scale and that her children would also be discussing the case on social media. No agreement was ever reached.

On Oct. 21, a small claims judge in Denver ruled in favor of Grimaldi and awarded her the maximum amount -- $7,500. The judge noted that the defendant, David Ellis jewelers, did not appear in court and "testimony from Plaintiff evinced Defendant breached that certain purchase agreement by failing to have a calibrated scale; as a result of the breach, Plaintiff was damaged in the amount of $7,500."

While David Ellis jewelers is not commenting on the case beyond saying they did nothing wrong, Grimaldi says she did the right thing and the fight was worth it.

"If you don't know and you're not informed, nobody's going to advocate for you. Unfortunately you have to advocate for yourself," she said.

Colorado's Department of Agriculture says any business buying or selling good by weight should have a sticker on its scale, issued by the state, with an inspectors initials, the date it was inspected and a phone number for the Department of Agriculture.