Chicago's Last Department Store v. Indiana Alcoholic Beverage Commission

161 F. Supp. 1, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4263
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedApril 1, 1958
DocketCiv. 2306
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 161 F. Supp. 1 (Chicago's Last Department Store v. Indiana Alcoholic Beverage Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago's Last Department Store v. Indiana Alcoholic Beverage Commission, 161 F. Supp. 1, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4263 (N.D. Ind. 1958).

Opinion

GRANT, District Judge.

Plaintiff alleges that this action arises under the Constitution of the United States and under the Civil Rights Act of the United States. 42 U.S.C.A. § 1971 et seq. Plaintiff seeks an injunction directed toward the above named defendants and prays that a statute enacted by the State of Indiana in 1935 be declared unconstitutional and void. The statute in question reads as follows:

“No alcoholic beverage shall be imported or transported into the state of Indiana unless such beverage is at the time of the importation or transportation thereof into the state of Indiana the absolute property of a permittee who is authorized under this act to import and/or transport the same into the state of Indiana, but this' shall not apply to shipment from another state in continuous transit through the state of Indiana into another state, unless such shipment be intended to evade this act, and for delivery within this state, provided nothing in this act shall prohibit the bringing into the state of Indiana by a person other than a permittee hereunder lawfully entitled so to do, if such person be a traveler in the ordinary course of travel, of not to exceed one (1) quart of alcoholic, spiritous or vinous beverages: Provided, That the same is not intended for sale to any other person.” (Acts 1935 Ch. 226, Sec. 41, Cl. a, p. 1056; 1937 Ch. 197, Sec. 11, p. 931; 1939 Ch. 30, Sec. 6, p. 79, Burns’ Ann.St. § 12-901.)

The violation of this statute constitutes a misdemeanor. 1956 Replacement, Burns, Sec. 12-922, p. 985.

The plaintiff is a corporation organized under the laws of Illinois. The defendants are all citizens of Indiana.

Plaintiff is engaged in the retail department and liquor store business. The business operation is located in the City of Chicago, Illinois, approximately one (1) block from the Indiana-Illinois State *3 line on U. S. Highway 12, 20 and 41, also known as Indianapolis Boulevard. Plaintiff alleges that over the last quarter century it has built up a clientele composed of citizens from the States of Illinois and Indiana and many other States.

Plaintiff alleges that the Alcoholic Beverage Commission of Indiana, acting under the authority conferred by the cited statute, has, through its agents, directed and placed an agent, one Floyd Saxton, on or near the premises of the plaintiff in the State of Illinois; that this said agent would transcribe the license plate numbers of certain patrons of the plaintiff — namely, the automobiles bearing Indiana license plates — and would then convey this information, by radio, to Indiana Police Patrol cars stationed just across the State line in Indiana. Plaintiff further alleges that as the persons driving the automobiles bearing the reported license numbers entered the State of Indiana the Indiana State Police would make an arrest of said persons for transporting alcoholic beverages into the State of Indiana (in excess of one quart) without a permit, and/or would stop said automobile under the pretext of making an arrest for some traffic violation in order to search the contents of the automobile.

Plaintiff alleges that it has lost business and business opportunities as the direct result of this activity, as former customers and would-be customers are intimidated and frightened away from patronizing plaintiff’s outlet.

In 1933 the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution became effective. Section 2 of that Amendment reads as follows:

“Sec. 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.”

Shortly after the adoption of this Amendment, the Supreme Court of the United States held that State legislatures may enact legislation which discriminates against imported intoxicants in favor of those of domestic origin and that such favoritism does not offend either the Commerce Clause of Article I nor the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. State Board of Equalization v. Young’s Market Co., 299 U.S. 59, 57 S.Ct. 77, 81 L.Ed. 38.

A Kentucky statute prohibited the transportation of intoxicating liquors by carriers without first having been licensed under the Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control Law. This statute was enforced as to an Indiana corporation engaged in carrying liquor from Kentucky distillers to consignees in Illinois. The Indiana corporation was licensed only as a contract carrier under the Federal Motor Carriers Act, 49 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq. Ziffrin, Inc., v. Reeves, 308 U.S. 132, 60 S.Ct. 163, 167, 84 L.Ed. 128. The Supreme Court, in upholding the constitutionality of this statute said:

“The Twenty-first Amendment sanctions the right of a state to legislate concerning intoxicating liquors brought from without, unfettered by the Commerce Clause. Without doubt a state may absolutely prohibit the manufacture of intoxicants, their transportation, sale or possession, irrespective of when or where produced or obtained, or the use to which they are to be put. Further, she may adopt measures reasonably appropriate to effectuate these inhibitions and exercise full police authority in respect of them.” Ziffrin, Inc., v. Reeves, supra.
“Property rights in intoxicants depend on state laws and cease if the liquor becomes contraband.” Ziffrin, Inc., v. Reeves, supra.

The Supreme Court has passed upon the question of statutes attempting to *4 regulate the transport, through the State, of liquor cargoes originating and ending outside the boundaries of the regulating State and has held that such provisions do not contravene the Commerce Clause of the Federal Constitution. Duckworth v. Arkansas, 314 U.S. 390, 62 S.Ct. 311, 86 L.Ed. 294; Carter v. Virginia, 321 U.S. 131, 64 S.Ct. 464, 88 L.Ed. 605.

In the case presently before this Court the factual pattern is even stronger in defending the constitutionality of this Indiana statute, as this statute is concerned with the importation or transportation into the State of Indiana and not merely through the State of Indiana. If the State has the prerogative and right to narrow and control traffic of alcoholic and spiritous beverages which are in the flow of commerce passing through the State, then the State must assuredly have the power to regulate the importation and transportation of alcoholic beverages into the State. The lesser power is included within the greater power. Seaboard Air Line Ry. v. North Carolina, 245 U.S. 298, 38 S.Ct. 96, 62 L.Ed. 299.

Plaintiff has not presented a case wherein this Indiana enactment is in conflict with Federal law, and, as Mr. Justice Black has written:

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Bluebook (online)
161 F. Supp. 1, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicagos-last-department-store-v-indiana-alcoholic-beverage-commission-innd-1958.