MJ Ontario, Inc. v. Daley

CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 19, 2007
Docket1-04-2249 NRel
StatusUnpublished

This text of MJ Ontario, Inc. v. Daley (MJ Ontario, Inc. v. Daley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MJ Ontario, Inc. v. Daley, (Ill. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

SIXTH DIVISION January 19, 2007

No. 1-04-2249

MJ ONTARIO, INC., an Illinois Corporation, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Cook County ) v. ) No. 03 CH 13213 ) RICHARD M. DALEY, as Mayor of the City of ) Honorable Chicago and Local Liquor Control Commissioner, ) David R. Donnersberger, the LOCAL LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION ) Judge Presiding. OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO, the MAYOR'S ) LICENSE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF ) CHICAGO, SCOTT V. BRUNER, as DIRECTOR ) of the MAYOR'S LICENSE COMMISSION OF ) THE CITY OF CHICAGO, the CITY OF ) CHICAGO, a Municipal Corporation, the ) LICENSE APPEAL COMMISSION OF THE ) CITY OF CHICAGO, ANTHONY CALABRESE, ) as Chairman of the License Appeal Commission, ) IRVING KOPPEL and DONALD ADAMS, as ) Commissioners of the License Appeal Commission, ) ) Defendants-Appellees. )

PRESIDING JUSTICE FITZGERALD SMITH delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff MJ Ontario, Inc., an Illinois corporation (plaintiff or MJ Ontario), sought

administrative review in the circuit court of Cook County of a decision by the defendant License

Appeal Commission of the City of Chicago (LAC), which, after a hearing, affirmed an order by

the defendant Local Liquor Control Commission of the City of Chicago (LLCC)1 denying

plaintiff's application for a late-hour liquor license. The circuit court upheld the LAC's decision.

1 We refer to the defendants LAC and LLCC specifically where necessary; however, we

refer to defendants generally as "the City." 1-04-2249

Plaintiff appeals, contending the LAC improperly construed the ordinance concerning the issuance

of late-hour liquor licenses and improperly admitted certain evidence at the hearing. Plaintiff

contends, in the alternate, that the LAC's findings were arbitrary, unreasonable, and unsupported

by sufficient evidence. We affirm.

MJ Ontario is located at 224 West Ontario Street, which is near the intersection of

Franklin and Ontario Streets in Chicago. Plaintiff applied for and was granted a liquor license. It

also applied for a late-hour license to extend the time it is allowed to serve alcoholic beverages on

the premises, seeking to do so for an additional two hours, i.e., until 4 a.m. on Monday through

Saturday and until 5 a.m. on Sunday.

On October 21, 2002, the former director of the LLCC, Winston Mardis (Director),2

issued an order denying the application from MJ Ontario and Mark Jurczyk, president of MJ

Ontario, for a late-hour liquor license. The order stated that, upon consideration of police

department "review & reports" and the written objections of the alderman where the premises are

located, the Director found the public interest would be served by denying the license. The order

also stated that the area had been "plagued with numerous problems including: noise, litter and

other problems which endanger and disrupt the local community."3 Additionally, it contained the

Director's further finding that granting a license would have a deleterious impact on the health,

2 A motion has been granted changing the caption of the case to reflect Scott Bruner as

the current Director of the Mayor's License Commission of the City of Chicago. 3 The order noted that a late-hour license had already been issued for premises at 226 W.

Ontario, next door to the applicant.

-2- 1-04-2249

safety and welfare of the surrounding community.

Plaintiff appealed the denial of the application to the LAC, which held a hearing on the

application on March 18, 2003. At the hearing, the LLCC presented three witnesses: Alderman

Burton Natarus, Chicago police lieutenant Robert Cooper, and area resident Mary Ellen

Rosemeyer, who testified personally and on behalf of the River North Residents Association.

Jurczyk, the owner of MJ Ontario, testified for plaintiff, as did Alderman Theodore Matlak, who

represents a ward where Jurczyk's other club property is located, and by stipulation, Morene

Dunn, the representative of another area association. We briefly summarize the testimony.

Alderman Natarus testified that 224 W. Ontario is located within the 42nd ward, which he

has represented for 32 years. He testified as to his impressions of traffic congestion around the

location, his observations of heavy late-night traffic in the area at another nightclub, and the

overcrowding due to the mass exodus of cars from Ontario Street after 5 a.m. on weekends that

resulted in a public safety problem. The alderman testified that he lived four blocks from the

location of MJ Ontario, he walked the streets of his ward late at night, and was extremely

concerned about overcrowding in nightclubs since the E2 nightclub incident. Alderman Natarus

personally observed fights, crowds of inebriated people, and individuals soliciting sex and

controlled substances around 224 W. Ontario.

By agreement, a letter Alderman Natarus had written in objection to the late-hour license

was considered as substantive evidence. In the letter, the alderman expressed his opinion that the

issuance of such license would increase noise and litter, and adversely affect public safety.

Lieutenant Cooper testified that he had been a Chicago police officer for more than 30

-3- 1-04-2249

years, and for the last 10 years, he had been assigned to the district encompassing the MJ Ontario

location, working the overnight shift. He testified that the issuance of a late-hour license would

create problems for the police department, since the department operates after 2 a.m. in that

district with a skeleton crew and there are dramatically fewer officers available to respond to calls.

Officers who respond to calls involving complaints of "drunk and disorderly" behavior are kept

from answering emergency calls. The lieutenant testified that, after 2 a.m., manpower for the

district decreases by 50%; he noted that bar patrons who are unruly at 2 a.m. become even more

so by 4 a.m., and that the issuance of a 4 a.m. license would attract a greater criminal element to

the area.

Lieutenant Cooper further testified that he and his district commander, Joseph Griffin,

speak several times during the week and have discussed the late-hour license. Lieutenant Cooper

testified that he was there to represent the police department and Commander Griffin, and that

Commander Griffin opposed the issuance of the license. Based upon his own experience as a

police officer, Lieutenant Cooper also opposed the late-hour license.

Over objection, Lieutenant Cooper testified that the City's Exhibit No. 2 was a

memorandum summarizing calls for service that the police department had received between 8

p.m. and 6 a.m. in the immediate vicinity of MJ Ontario over a period of about eight months, from

July 1, 2002, through March 5, 2003. The document was prepared at his direction in preparation

for the hearing and reflected numerous calls in a the one-block radius of the Franklin-Ontario

intersection; the calls included criminal damage, parking complaints, reckless conduct, robbery,

deceptive practices, and theft. The LAC admitted the document over objection to "clarify and

-4- 1-04-2249

support" Lieutenant Cooper's opinion.

Rosemeyer, who is the attorney for the River North Residents Association, testified in

opposition to issuance of the late-hour license. She further testified that, for almost 10 years, she

has lived several blocks away from 224 W. Ontario. Over plaintiff's objection, Rosemeyer

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