City of Corvallis v. Pi Kappa Phi

428 P.3d 905, 293 Or. App. 319
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedAugust 15, 2018
DocketA161263
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 428 P.3d 905 (City of Corvallis v. Pi Kappa Phi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Corvallis v. Pi Kappa Phi, 428 P.3d 905, 293 Or. App. 319 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinions

HADLOCK, J.

*320Plaintiff City of Corvallis appeals a trial court order affirming a municipal court order allowing defendant's demurrer and declaring plaintiff's "hosting" ordinance unconstitutional. Plaintiff assigns error to the trial court's determination that state law preempts the local ordinance. We affirm.

Because this case comes to us on a demurrer, we need not recite the facts in detail. State v. Illig-Renn , 341 Or. 228, 230 n. 2, 142 P.3d 62 (2006). Plaintiff cited defendant for violating, along with another ordinance, Corvallis Municipal Code (CMC) 5.03.040.010.10(1), which provides that "[n]o person shall permit, allow or host a juvenile party at his or her place of residence or premises under the person's control while alcoholic liquor is consumed or possessed by any minor." CMC 5.03.040.010.01(3) defines "juvenile party" as "[a] social gathering attended by one or more persons under the age of twenty-one (21)." The ordinance states expressly that violation of its terms "is intended to be a strict liability crime," that "proof of a mental state" is not required, and that violation of the ordinance is a Class A misdemeanor. CMC 5.03.040.010.10(3) and (4).

Defendant demurred, arguing, in part, that CMC 5.03.040.010.10 is unconstitutional because ORS 471.410(3), part of the Oregon Liquor Control Act, preempts it. That statutory provision, which we discuss in more detail later, generally prohibits a person who is present and in control of private property from knowingly allowing a minor who is not the person's own child or ward to consume alcoholic liquor on the property. The first time that a person violates ORS 471.410(3), that person has committed a Class A violation; each subsequent violation "is a specific fine violation" with a presumptive fine of $1,000. ORS 471.410(10).

The municipal court allowed defendant's demurrer and declared the ordinance invalid. Plaintiff appealed to the circuit court, arguing that the ordinance is a valid exercise of its home rule authority not preempted by state law. The trial court affirmed the municipal *907court's order. On appeal, plaintiff assigns error to the trial court's order. We review *321the trial court's ruling for errors of law. State v. Walsh , 288 Or. App. 331, 332, 406 P.3d 152 (2017).

Oregon grants municipalities home rule authority in Article XI, section 2, of the Oregon Constitution.1 A party's argument that a city exceeded its home rule authority by enacting an ordinance can implicate two questions: first, whether the ordinance is authorized by the city's charter or a state statute and second, if so, "whether [the ordinance] contravenes state or federal law." City of La Grande v. PERB , 281 Or. 137, 142, 576 P.2d 1204, aff'd on reh'g , 284 Or. 173, 586 P.2d 765 (1978). In this case, the parties focus on the second question. Defendant contends that plaintiff's ordinance contravenes, or conflicts with, state law; plaintiff contends that it does not.

The test for whether state law conflicts with a local ordinance is "whether the local rule in truth is incompatible with the legislative policy, either because both cannot operate concurrently or because the legislature meant its law to be exclusive." Id. at 148, 576 P.2d 1204. "In the area of civil or administrative ordinances regulating local conditions, it is reasonable to assume that the legislature did not mean to displace local ordinances, unless that intention is apparent." City of Portland v. Dollarhide , 300 Or. 490, 501, 714 P.2d 220 (1986). But Oregon courts apply a different test for ordinances that purport to create crimes. Recognizing that Article XI, section 2, subjects home rule provisions to "the Constitution and criminal laws of the State of Oregon," the Dollarhide court was "left * * * with the inescapable conclusion that the voters who adopted Article XI, section 2 [,] envisioned a stricter limitation on the lawmaking power of cities in respect of criminal laws than with regard to civil or regulatory measures" and reversed the assumption that the legislature did not intend to displace local ordinances unless the intent is apparent. Id. at 497, 501, 714 P.2d 220 ("The analysis of compatibility begins * * * with the assumption that state *322criminal law displaces conflicting local ordinances which prohibit and punish the same conduct, absent an apparent legislative intent to the contrary." (Emphasis in original.) ).

We begin our analysis by considering which of the Dollarhide tests-the civil/regulatory or the criminal-applies in this context. Plaintiff argues that the civil/ regulatory analysis applies, as ORS 471.410(3) is not a criminal law, both because it falls outside of the criminal code and because the Liquor Control Act's primary purpose is regulatory.

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City of Corvallis v. Pi Kappa Phi
428 P.3d 905 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2018)

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Bluebook (online)
428 P.3d 905, 293 Or. App. 319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-corvallis-v-pi-kappa-phi-orctapp-2018.