Baseball, Inc. v. Indiana Department of State Revenue

672 N.E.2d 1368, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 1592, 1996 WL 668447
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 20, 1996
DocketNo. 71A04-9606-CV-236
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 672 N.E.2d 1368 (Baseball, Inc. v. Indiana Department of State Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baseball, Inc. v. Indiana Department of State Revenue, 672 N.E.2d 1368, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 1592, 1996 WL 668447 (Ind. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

DARDEN, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Baseball, Inc., (Baseball), appeals the trial court's decision affirming the Indiana Department of Revenue's (Department) revocation of Baseball's bingo license.

We affirm.

ISSUES

1. Whether Baseball was denied due process when the Department terminated its bingo license on an emergency basis.
2. Whether Baseball was denied due process when an attorney for the Department served as both advocate for the department and hearing officer at the administrative review of Baseball's license revocation.
3. Whether the hearing officer impermis-sibly admitted double hearsay.
4. Whether the trial court's findings of fact exceeded the scope of its authority upon judicial review.
5. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to allow the Department's hearing officer to testify at the judicial review of the Department's affirmation of the emergency bingo license revocation.
6. Whether the trial court erred in determining Baseball was not a qualified organization under Ind.Code 4-82-6-20(a)(1)(A); and (C).

FACTS

Baseball, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in 1984 for the purpose of the promotion of baseball in Michigan City and Indiana. Apparently, Baseball's sole source of revenue was a charity gambling operation offering bingo, pull tabs, punch boards and tip boards at the headquarters which it owns located at 3900 Lincoln Way West, South Bend, Indiana. Although Baseball was licensed by the Department to engage in all four of the above-mentioned games, its principal activities were bingo and the sale of pull tabs. Baseball was comprised of no more than 13 executive members who are members for life and an unlimited number of general members.

Baseball's officers included Commissioner Alan Shinn, President Robert Van Seyoc, Vice President William Nasser and Secretary/Treasurer Joseph Oletti. Located within the building at the 3900 Lincoln Way West address along with Baseball were seven other satellite companies which paid nothing for rent, utilities, or maintenance. These businesses included Brentwood Ad Agency, N.W. Maintenance, Big Four Asphalt, Shinn Construction, Communication Audio and Electronics, Triple A Security, and B. & H. Hardware and were all owned by Baseball officers, relatives of Baseball officers, or members of Baseball.

During 1998 and 1994, Baseball made large payments to six of these companies for services rendered. As to B. & H. Hardware, Baseball made it a substantial loan which has never been repaid. Many of Baseball's volunteer bingo workers received paychecks from one or more of the aforementioned companies. Some of these workers are employed by the companies and work as bingo volunteers for Baseball. Others are not employees of the companies and have no explanation for the paychecks other than that they believed they were being paid to work at the bingo games. The owners of the companies had no explanation for these paychecks.

After an investigation spanning the approximate time period of July 1993 to November 1995, the Department revoked Baseball's license on an emergency basis and imposed fines totaling $86,500.00 as of January 11, 1996. At the administrative appeal of the emergency revocation, Anne Holden, an attorney with the Department, served as both hearing officer and advocate for the Department over Baseball's objection. The Department issued a letter of findings dated [1371]*1371February 5, 1996, wherein it sustained the following violations alleged in the emergency license revocation notification: 1) Baseball was not a qualified organization, 2) its volunteer workers were illegally paid, 3) it used bingo proceeds illegally, 4) it allowed a volunteer to participate in a bingo game, 5) it sold pull tabs that did not meet standards set by statute and regulations, and 6) it illegally acted as distributor of bingo supplies.

Judicial review of the Department's findings and conclusions was conducted on February 26, 1996. The trial court issued its findings on March 12, 1996, finding the evidence sufficient to support all of the Departments' findings with the exception of the finding that Baseball illegally distributed bingo supplies.

Additional facts will be presented throughout our discussion of the issues.

1. Emergency Termination of Bingo License

Baseball first argues that the Department "denied Baseball, Inc. its right to due process by terminating its bingo license on an emergency basis." Brief of Appellant at 32. There is no constitutional right to gamble. Lewis v. United States, 348 U.S. 419, 423, 75 S.Ct. 415, 418, 99 L.Ed. 475 (1955). Furthermore, this court has stated that Indiana has a legitimate interest in regulating gambling through its exercise of the police power. Dept. of Revenue v. There To Care, Inc., 638 N.E.2d 871, 874 (Ind.Ct.App.1994), trans. denied. To that end, the State has enacted the following which govern the revocation of Baseball's bingo license:

Ind.Code 4-32-8-2 provides:
If the department proposes to terminate the license of an organization, a distributor or manufacturer, the entity may continue to operate under the license until the department has made a decision and all administrative appeals have been exhausted by the entity. However, the right to continue to operate after the entity's receipt of the department's decision does not apply to an entity if the department declares in the decision to terminate the license that an emergency exists that requires the immediate termination of the license.
Ind.Code 4-32-8-8 provides:
The department shall adopt rules under IC 4-22-21 concerning when an emergency exists that requires the immediate termination of a license under section 2 of this chapter.

45 IAC 18-6-8 provides for the revocation of Baseball's bingo license as follows in pertinent part:

(a) The proposed action of the department to impose a civil penalty under this article is subject to review under IC 6-8.1. However, the licensee has only seventy-two (72) hours from its receipt of the decision, or other action to file a written protest. Except as provided in subsection (b), as long as the matter is under protest, the licensee can continue to operate until all administrative appeals have been exhaust, ed.
(b) The department may determine at any time that an emergency exists that requires the immediate termination of a license. Effective with the receipt of the department's decision to terminate its license, a licensee must cease all operations that were previously authorized under the license.
(c) An emergency requiring the immediate termination of a license will be deemed to exist under any of the following cireum-stances:
(1) The information provided on the application for license is found to be false or misleading.
(2) The appropriate fees are not paid.

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Bluebook (online)
672 N.E.2d 1368, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 1592, 1996 WL 668447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baseball-inc-v-indiana-department-of-state-revenue-indctapp-1996.