Pettit v. Penn

180 So. 2d 66
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 17, 1966
Docket10440
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 180 So. 2d 66 (Pettit v. Penn) 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
Pettit v. Penn, 180 So. 2d 66 (La. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

180 So.2d 66 (1965)

Lawrence B. PETTIT et al., Respondents,
v.
Charles PENN, Applicant.

No. 10440.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

September 20, 1965.
Rehearing Denied October 28, 1965.
Writ Refused January 17, 1966.

*67 Thompson, Thompson & Sparks, Monroe, for applicant.

George Fink, Monroe, for respondents.

Before HARDY, AYRES, and BOLIN, JJ.

AYRES, Judge.

Writs were issued herein to afford an opportunity to review the propriety of the action of the trial court in overruling a motion to dismiss respondents' appeal to the court from a decision of the Louisiana Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control dismissing their opposition to applicant's demand for, and the issuance of, a liquor license, or permit, to sell intoxicating liquor and beer at the premises bearing Municipal No. 103 Wood Street, Monroe, Louisiana, known as the Elbow Room.

The primary question presented for resolution and the one upon which the writs were issued is whether the courts are vested with jurisdiction to review decisions of the Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control which dismiss oppositions and grant licenses, or permits, to sell intoxicating liquor and beer at retail. The trial court, in overruling applicant's motion to dismiss, held that the court had jurisdiction to review such actions of the board, whereupon applicant applied to this court for remedial writs.

Applicant contends, inasmuch as "The Alcoholic Beverage Control Law," LSA-R.S. 26:1 et seq., and particularly § 104 thereof, makes provision for appeals to the courts only by those whose applications for liquor permits have been denied or whose permits have been suspended or revoked, that, by implication at least, those who oppose such applications and the issuance of such permits are without right to a judicial review of, and that the courts are without jurisdiction to review, the actions of the board wherein such oppositions are overruled and permits ordered issued.

The pertinent provisions of the statute referred to and relied upon by the applicant (LSA-R.S. 26:104) provide that

"Any party aggrieved by a decision of the board to withhold, suspend, or revoke a permit or of the local authorities to withhold a permit may, *68 within ten days of the notification of the decision, take a devolutive appeal to the district court having jurisdiction of the applicant's or permittee's place of business, proposed or actual as the case may be. Such appeals shall be filed in the district courts in the same manner as original suits are instituted therein. The appeals shall be tried de novo. Either party may amend and supplement his pleadings and additional witnesses may be called and heard."

A brief summary of the proceedings before the board is deemed appropriate to an appreciation of the issues as they are resolved.

By application dated March 31, 1965, filed with the Board of Alcoholic Beverage Control April 9, 1965, Charles Penn applied for a license, or permit, to sell at retail, at the heretofore-described location, alcoholic beverages containing more than six percent of alcohol by volume. To his application, thirteen citizens of the City of Monroe, Louisiana, members of the Board of Deacons of the First Baptist Church of that city, filed a formal written opposition wherein it was set forth that the church has been located and has held and conducted, for more than 110 years, and is now holding and conducting, its regular and special services in the 200 block of St. John Street.

The opposition is predicated upon the contention that the granting of the permit applied for would be contrary to and in violation of the provisions of not only Ordinance No. 3263, Section 4, of the City of Monroe, but of the provisions of LSA-R.S. 26:39 et seq. on the grounds, among others, that (1) the location of the proposed business is within 300 feet of the aforesaid First Baptist Church; (2) Charles Penn is an interposed person; (3) the Penn Resort Hotel is the party at interest in the application and in the proposed business, which constitutes no part of the hotel; and (4) the application was not submitted within 24 hours of the application for a local permit as required by LSA-R.S. 26:78. Respondents made, in their petition to the court for a judicial review of the action of the board, the same contentions set forth in their opposition urged before the board.

The question presented for determination involves a legal issue. For its resolution, consideration of certain fundamental and well-established legal principles must be given. First of major concern is the constitutional provision that

"All courts shall be open, and every person for injury done him in his rights, lands, goods, person or reputation shall have adequate remedy by due process of law and justice administered without denial, partiality or unreasonable delay." La.Const. Art. 1, § 6.

It is, however, a prerogative of the Legislature to delegate to administrative boards and agencies of the State power and authority of ascertaining and determining the facts upon which laws are to be applied and enforced. State ex rel. Porterie v. Housing Authority of New Orleans, 190 La. 710, 182 So. 725, 739 (1938); Hunter Co. v. McHugh, 202 La. 97, 11 So.2d 495 (1942); National Bank of Commerce, etc. v. Board of Sup'rs, etc., 206 La. 913, 20 So.2d 264 (1944); Parker v. Board of Barber Examiners, 84 So.2d 80, 86, La.App., 1st Cir.1955. However, a legislature cannot deprive the courts of their constitutionally conferred jurisdiction. Meyer v. Board of Trustees of F. Pension & R. Fund, 199 La. 633, 6 So.2d 713, 717 (1942).

In the cited case, it was said:

"The jurisprudence is clear that where a Board has original power to determine matters submitted to it under a statute that, after it has acted, the legal correctness of its action may be attacked in court by a party claiming an adverse legal right." *69 Cited as authority were the cases: State ex rel. Reynolds & Henry Const. Co. v. O'Kelly, 48 La.Ann. 28, 33, 18 So. 757 (1895); State v. Elfer, 115 La. 964, 40 So. 370 (1905).

Thus, involved is the principle of due process of law, the constitutional provision with reference to which was designed to exclude oppression and arbitrary power from every branch of the government, and, with respect to judicial proceedings, contemplates a course of proceedings according to rules and principles which have been established in our system of jurisprudence for the conduct and enforcement of private rights. Thus, as pointed out in Dupuy v. Tedora, 204 La. 560, 15 So.2d 886, 890 (1943),

"It means that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, or of any right granted him by statute, unless the matter involved shall first have been adjudicated against him upon trial conducted according to established rules regulating judicial proceedings. It forbids condemnation without a hearing." (Emphasis supplied.)

The requirements of due process in instances such as this are, however, satisfied where resort may be had to courts to have actions of administrative officers or public bodies reviewed.

The general rule is that

"The requirements of due process have been held satisfied where resort may be had to the courts to have the action of an administrative officer or body reviewed, except where no stay of the effect of the order appealed is provided, and where, meanwhile, irreparable injury will result, * * *." 73 C.J.S. Public Administrative Bodies and Procedure § 60, pp.

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Bluebook (online)
180 So. 2d 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pettit-v-penn-lactapp-1966.