Harrison v. Commission Council of Bogalusa

169 So. 2d 159, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 2052
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 16, 1964
Docket6293
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 169 So. 2d 159 (Harrison v. Commission Council of Bogalusa) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harrison v. Commission Council of Bogalusa, 169 So. 2d 159, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 2052 (La. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

169 So.2d 159 (1964)

J. B. HARRISON
v.
COMMISSION COUNCIL OF BOGALUSA, Louisiana, et al.

No. 6293.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 16, 1964.

*160 Henry N. Richardson, Bogalusa, for appellant.

Robert T. Rester, Bogalusa, for appellees.

Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, HERGET, LANDRY and REID, JJ.

LANDRY, Judge.

Plaintiff, J. B. Harrison, has taken this appeal from the judgment of the lower court affirming the denial of his applications to the Commission Council of the City of Bogalusa, The Collector of Revenue, State of Louisiana, and the Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control for permits to sell beer and alcoholic beverages in the City of Bogalusa for the calendar year 1964.

The sole question presented by the instant appeal is whether legal grounds existed for the denial and refusal of appellant's said applications considering rejection thereof may be predicated solely on those reasons expressly provided by law and denial thereof for any unauthorized reason is a flagrant violation of the applicant's constitutional rights and therefore null and void. Vice v. Assumption Parish Police Jury, La.App., 135 So.2d 108.

It is conceded appellant's applications properly and timely comply with all procedural requirements, the precise issue presented being an interpretation of those provisions of the applicable statutes governing qualifications of applicants, namely. LSA-R.S. 26:79(A) (2) with respect to the Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Control, (sometimes hereinafter referred to as "the Board" or "ABC"), and LSA-R.S. 26:279(A) (2) as regards the Collector of Revenue (sometimes hereinafter referred to as "Collector"). Insofar as concerns the case at bar, the applicable statutes are identical and require that an applicant shall have been a citizen and resident of the State of Louisiana continuously for a period of not less than two years preceding the date of filing his application.

Plaintiff's applications were made November 20, 1963, and rejected by letter of the Commissioner of Public Safety of defendant municipality dated December 24, 1963, reading as follows:

"This will advise that your application for 1964 Liquor and Beer Permits have been denied. Attached are copies of the notice forwarded to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and the Department of Revenue as required by law.
"Your Chasier's (sic) Check No. 15279, dated November 20, 1963, in the amount of $330.00, payable to the City of Bogalusa, Louisiana, remitted by *161 J. B. Harrison, for the 1964 permits is returned herewith."

The City's reasons for denying appellant's applications are set forth in the attached copies of the notices sent to the ABC and Collector as mentioned in the municipality's letter of December 24, 1963, to plaintiff. The reasons stated to the Collector are as follows:

"1. The applicant has not been a resident of the State of Louisiana continuously for a period of not less than two years next preceding the date of the filing of the application as required by R.S. 26:279(2) and Section 4-16(2) of the City of Bogalusa Code. Information furnished by the Chief of Police, Freeport, Texas, disclosed that J. B. Harrison worked at Theriot Electric Company from May 1962, until February 1963, and lived at 1743 West 6th Street in Freeport from February 1962, until July 1963. Investigation to further substantiate applicant's residency in the State of Texas during the year of 1963 is still being continued.
"2. As a result of this assertion of residency, there has been a misstatement of fact in the application, giving rise to a ground for denial of a permit as set forth in R.S. 26:281.
"3. Because of history of the location of the proposed business and the applications for liquor and beer permits submitted therefor, there are substantial facts and circumstances to support the conviction that applicant is an interposed party, which is a ground for denial of a permit under the law."

The reasons for refusal given in the City's notice to the ABC are substantially identical to those contained in the notice to the Collector excepting only that the appropriate sections of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law are cited in place of the corresponding sections of the statute regulating issuance of permits to vendors of beverages of low alcoholic content which latter statute is administered by the Collector.

Appellant stoutly maintains he meets the hereinabove cited provisions of the statutes requiring his continuous residence in the state for a period of not less than two years next preceding his said applications. However, the trial court in effect affirmed the municipality's finding that appellant did not fulfill the mandate of residence established by the applicable statutes and dismissed appellant's action.

Plaintiff's contention that he is a resident of this state and was so continuously for a period of not less than two years next preceding his application is predicated primarily on the premise that "residence" and "domicile" are legally synonymous. On the other hand, defendant municipality urges the terms are distinct and have separate meaning.

The pertinent facts regarding appellant's residence during the two year period next preceding his said application are uncontradicted and consideration thereof in detail is essential to disposition of the City's contention that appellant does not meet the residential requirements of the statutes in question.

Plaintiff was born in Washington Parish in 1931 and resided there continuously until 1951 or 1952, when he moved to New Orleans. After residing and working in New Orleans for approximately three years appellant returned to Bogalusa in or about 1955. In either March or April, 1962, plaintiff commenced working in the State of Texas holding various jobs while his wife and family remained in Bogalusa residing in the home which plaintiff still owns there. On June 11, 1962, appellant moved his family and some of his furniture to Texas because he found too burdensome the approximately 1000 mile fortnightly trips to Bogalusa necessary for him to visit his wife and children. After moving his family to Texas, appellant leased his residence in Bogalusa and subsequently used his father's home address in that city. However, plaintiff *162 entered all of his children in school in Texas and they were in fact attending school and residing in that state with plaintiff and his wife at the time of plaintiff's application for the permits herein sought.

As evidence of intention to retain rather than change his Louisiana domicile, plaintiff established proof of his registration as a qualified voter and elector of Washington Parish, Louisiana, and of his having voted in elections held in said Parish since his departure from this state on June 11, 1962. In addition, plaintiff established that during his residence in Texas he bought automobile driver's license and resident Louisiana hunting licenses and had never registered as an elector in the State of Texas, or voted in that state and neither had he applied for any automobile, drivers, hunting or fishing licenses in that state. According to appellant, he always intended and represented the City of Bogalusa as his residence. It appears from the record that he intended no change in his domicile, he always considered his absence from Bogalusa temporarily necessitated by his need for employment and proposed and resolved to return there when circumstances permitted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
169 So. 2d 159, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 2052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harrison-v-commission-council-of-bogalusa-lactapp-1964.