Taylor's Coffee Shop, Inc. v. Oregon Liquor Control Commission

560 P.2d 693, 28 Or. App. 701, 1977 Ore. App. LEXIS 2706
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedFebruary 28, 1977
DocketCA 6927
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 560 P.2d 693 (Taylor's Coffee Shop, Inc. v. Oregon Liquor Control Commission) 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
Taylor's Coffee Shop, Inc. v. Oregon Liquor Control Commission, 560 P.2d 693, 28 Or. App. 701, 1977 Ore. App. LEXIS 2706 (Or. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

RICHARDSON, J.

Petitioner, holder of a retail malt beverage license, seeks judicial review of an order of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) suspending its license for seven days for permitting insanitary conditions on its premises in violation of Oregon Administrative Rules, ch 845, § 10-275.1

The issues presented by this appeal are (1) whether suspension of the license under OAR 845-10-275 is within the Commission’s statutory authority, (2) whether the notice of hearing and the Commission’s final order must state the statutory authority under which the Commission proceeded, (3) whether the findings of fact must be correlated to the conditions charged in the notice, (4) whether OAR 845-10-275 is void for vagueness, and (5) whether the licensee and the service permittee must receive the same sanction.

On December 17, 1975, an OLCC inspector, accompanied by a county health inspector, visited petitioner’s premises, and observed numerous conditions they denominated as insanitary.

A subsequent license suspension proceeding was initiated by a Notice of Hearing from the OLCC noting an inspection had been made and that should the Commission determine, after hearing, the charges are sustained by the evidence the Commission may suspend or cancel the license. The notice continued;

"The violations charged against you are as follows:
"Violation of OAR Chapter 845 10-275 in that, on December 17,1975, at the approximate time of 2:00 p.m., your employee, for whose acts you are held responsible [704]*704pursuant to OAR Chapter 845 10-075, permitted insanitary conditions in or upon the licensed premises, to-wit:

There followed approximately 27 specific allegations of conditions in the establishment charged as being insanitary. The licensee, Taylor’s Coffee Shop, Inc. and the service permittee, Jon LaBranch, received essentially the same notice. The hearings were consolidated.

Prior to the hearing petitioner filed several motions for dismissal of the proceedings. The record does not disclose the Commission’s disposition of these motions; however, since the proceedings continued to a final order we will treat the motions as having been denied.

Following the hearing before a hearings examiner, the Commission issued a proposed order containing proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law based on a review of the hearings examiner’s findings and recommendations. The permittee and licensee filed exceptions to the proposed order. Following consideration of the exceptions the Commission issued its final order which included findings of fact, ultimate findings of fact and conclusions of law and ordered the retail license be suspended for seven days and that the charge against permittee, Jon LaBranch, be dismissed.

The first issue raised by petitioner is that the regulation under which the Commission proceeded exceeds its statutory authority. ORS 471.315(l)(d)2 authorizes cancellation or suspension of a license for "maintaining” an insanitary establishment. Petitioner argues that this statute limits the Commission’s authority to suspend a licensee for insanitary conditions [705]*705to those instances where such conditions are being "maintained.” From this, petitioner concludes, the regulation which prohibits "permitting” insanitary conditions includes conduct not covered by the statute and thus exceeds the Commission’s statutory authority.

We have defined the term "maintaining” in ORS 471.315 (l)(d) to require more than an isolated instance and have said "* * * there must be evidence of other circumstances that could support an inference of continuity of the proscribed conduct * * Neptune’s Restaurant v. OLCC, 15 Or App 16, 18, 514 P2d 900 (1973). See also Palm Gardens, Inc. v. OLCC, 15 Or App 20, 514 P2d 888 (1973), Sup Ct review denied (1974); Starview, Inc. v. OLCC, 15 Or App 11, 514 P2d 898 (1973). Since the Notice of Hearing did not charge the petitioner with "maintaining” an insanitary establishment we do not need to decide if the evidence meets that standard. The issue is whether the Commission is prohibited by the statute from enacting a regulation prohibiting a licensee from "permitting” insanitary conditions to exist. We are admonished by the legislature in ORS 471.030 that:

"(1) The Liquor Control Act shall be liberally construed so as:
* * * *
"(c) To protect the safety, welfare, health, peace and morals of the people of the state.
* * * * ”

The Commission is given extensive power to promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of the Oregon Liquor Act. ORS 472.060(2)(d). See also Van Ripper v. Liquor Cont. Com., 228 Or 581, 365 P2d 109 (1961). In Van Ripper the Supreme Court said:

"Obviously the commission, in writing rules and enforcing them, can not undertake anything contrary to the statute itself. But it can fill in interstices in the legislation (Gouge v. David, supra) and thereby aid the [706]*706statute to accomplish its purposes. The legislature, in drafting an act, can not always foresee the developments that will occur when an agency created by its proceeds to administer the act. Such was the juncture of events that occurred in the case now before us. Since the legislators can not peer far into the future they may confer upon an agency to which they entrust the administration of the act enacted by them power to write the needed rules when a crises threatens that is within the purview of the act.” 228 Or at 591-92.

The regulation here in issue fills in the interstices of the Act and is reasonably designed to effectuate the purposes of the Act. The health of the people of Oregon, as patrons of a licensed premises, is endangered as much by insanitary conditions isolated in time, as by conditions which continue sufficient to be considered as being maintained. We do not interpret legislative intent reflected in ORS 471.315 (l)(d) to foreclose the Commission from prohibiting, by regulation, isolated insanitary conditions. It is reasonably related to protection of public health that they be prohibited. The Commission being allowed to prohibit insanitary conditions by regulation, it is permissible to enforce these regulations by sanctions including suspension of the license as provided in ORS 471.315(l)(a).

The term "permitting” in the regulation implies a requirement that the licensee have knowledge of the conditions which lead to a suspension, either direct or imputed through knowledge on the part of an employee. In this case the type and extent of the insanitary conditions support a conclusion the requisite knowledge was established.

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Related

Marcoules v. Oregon Liquor Control Commission
756 P.2d 661 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
560 P.2d 693, 28 Or. App. 701, 1977 Ore. App. LEXIS 2706, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylors-coffee-shop-inc-v-oregon-liquor-control-commission-orctapp-1977.