Rosing, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

690 A.2d 758, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 77, 1997 WL 68119
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 20, 1997
DocketNo. 2923 C.D. 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 690 A.2d 758 (Rosing, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rosing, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 690 A.2d 758, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 77, 1997 WL 68119 (Pa. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

FLAHERTY, Judge.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (Board) appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (trial court) reversing the Board’s decision to refuse Rosing, Inc. (Licensee) its liquor license renewal application.

Rosalina and Adoration Boyd (Owners) are mother and daughter respectively. They are the sole shareholders of the licensed corporation. During the two-year period between February 1992 and January 1994, the local police made several arrests for criminal activity at or adjacent to the licensed premises.

On February 25, 1994, Licensee filed for renewal. On April 20, 1994, the Director of Licensing issued a letter informing Licensee that its history of operation indicated that it “abused the licensing privilege” and that the Licensee would be contacted to attend a hearing on the matter. On August 9,1994, a hearing was conducted to determine whether the license would be renewed.

On February 10, 1995, Board filed its order denying Licensee’s renewal application pursuant to Section 470 of the Liquor Code.1 The Board’s opinion asserted that the Owners failed to take substantial steps to prevent illegal activity because they failed to contact or help police. On appeal the trial court reversed the Board and opined that the criminal activity at the licensed premises was due to the location of the premises in a high-crime area rather than the fault of the Owners. Also, the trial court held that the Owners took substantial steps to prevent criminal activity and cooperate with police. We affirm.2

Our scope of review in liquor license renewal cases is limited to a determination of whether the trial court committed an error of law, abused its discretion, or made findings of fact unsupported by substantial evidence. Ball Park’s Main Course, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 163 Pa.CmwIth. 636, 641 A.2d 713, 715 n. 5 (1994).

The Board raises two issues on appeal. The first issue is whether the trial court committed reversible error by making findings of fact contrary to the Board.

The Board correctly argues that the trial court was prohibited from making new findings of fact because the evidence presented to the Board and the trial court did not vary significantly. This court held, in Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board v. Can, Inc., 664 A.2d 695 (Pa.Cmwlth.1995), petition for allowance of appeal granted, 543 Pa. 391, 671 A.2d 1135 (1996), that the scope of review for a court of common pleas in license-renewal cases is governed by Section 464 of the Liquor Code.3 Id. at 698. A trial court is [760]*760prohibited from reversing a decision of the Board unless there has been a manifest abuse of discretion or the trial court makes findings of fact that vary from those made by the Board. Id. Furthermore, a “trial court is not permitted to substitute its findings of fact for those of the Board, when the evidence before the two tribunals is substantially the same.” Id. (citing Beach Lake United Methodist Church v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 126 Pa.Cmwlth. 71, 558 A.2d 611 (1989)). The specific issue, therefore, is whether evidence presented at the trial court was substantially the same as the evidence presented before the Board. We answer in the affirmative.

In Can, this court held that the trial court exceeded its scope of review because it made new findings of fact when the evidence presented before the Board and the trial court was substantially the same. In that case, licensee argued that new testimony was given by two witnesses. The court stated that “the additional testimony taken by the trial court, however, mirrors the testimony [that these two witnesses] provided to the Board and was merely cumulative.” Id. Also, in Beach Lake, 558 A.2d at 614, the court stated that “[a]lthough the witnesses who testified before the trial court were different from those who testified before the Board, the evidence presented was substantially the same.” Id.

In the case sub judice, the Board presented four new witnesses before the trial court who did not appear before the Board. However, these witnesses were police officers whose testimony mirrored the testimony of other police officers who testified at the Board hearing. The evidence presented before the trial court was substantially the same as the evidence presented before the Board. The trial court, therefore, erred in substituting its own findings of fact for those of the Board’s on the basis of conducting a de novo review of the Board’s decision. Can, 664 A.2d at 698. However, we affirm on other grounds4 because the record shows that the Board manifestly abused its discretion, an issue raised by Licensee in its petition for appeal. The trial court, therefore, was authorized to substitute its own discretion in plaee of the Board’s. See id. at 699.

The Liquor Control Board abuses its discretion in licensing cases when it commits acts such as “ ‘errors of judgment, overriding or misapplying the law, a manifestly unreasonable exercise of judgment, or a final result that evidences partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill-will.’” Arrington v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 667 A.2d 439, 441 (Pa.Cmwlth.1995) (quoting Centrum Prime Meats, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 71 Pa.Cmwlth. 560, 455 A.2d 742, 745 (1983)). In Republic Steel Corp. v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Shinsky), 492 Pa. 1, 5, 421 A.2d 1060 (1980), our Supreme Court defined substantial evidence as “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Id. The Court further explained that “appellate review must focus on whether there is rational support in the record, when viewed as a whole, for the agency action.” Id. When there is no rational support in the record for a finding, the Board has committed a manifestly unreasonable error of judgment and thereby abused its discretion. Accordingly, after reviewing the, record as a whole, a reasonable mind would not accept that the Owners of Rosing, Inc. failed to cooperate with police and, therefore, did not take substantial affirmative measures to prevent criminal activity on the premises.

In Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board v. TLK, Inc., 518 Pa. 500, 544 A.2d 931 (1988), [761]*761Justice Flaherty, writing for the Court, interpreted Section 471 of the Liquor Code5 to impose strict liability on licensees, which is liability for acts committed on a licensee’s premises without his knowledge, participation, or presence, for violations of the express provisions in the Liquor Code and regulations. Id. at 933.

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Bluebook (online)
690 A.2d 758, 1997 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 77, 1997 WL 68119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosing-inc-v-pennsylvania-liquor-control-board-pacommwct-1997.