Yarosz's License

47 Pa. D. & C. 404, 1943 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414
CourtBeaver County Court of Quarter Sessions
DecidedFebruary 26, 1943
Docketno. 7
StatusPublished

This text of 47 Pa. D. & C. 404 (Yarosz's License) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Beaver County Court of Quarter Sessions primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yarosz's License, 47 Pa. D. & C. 404, 1943 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1943).

Opinion

Wilson, J.,

The matter under consideration is the appeal of Thaddeus J. Yarosz, pro[405]*405prietor of “Teddy Yarosz’s Inn”, from an order of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board refusing a restaurant liquor license and an amusement permit. The opinion and order of the board are as follows:

“Opinion.

“On October 2,1942, Thaddeus J. Yarosz filed with this board an application for restaurant liquor license and amusement permit for premises located in the Township of Potter and County of Beaver.

“On December 8,1942, a hearing upon said application was held after notice to applicant as required by law. At the said hearing, which was attended by the applicant and his counsel, the evidence adduced established the following facts:

“1. A number of protests against the issuance of this license have been filed with the board, including remonstrances from the authorities in charge of two industrial plants which are located in close proximity to the premises for which the license is desired.

“2. Several of the protestants, including representatives of the industrial plants, appeared at the hearing and testified that they are opposed to the issuance of a license at this location by reason of the fact that the two industrial plants located close by the premises for which a license is desired are engaged in the production of materials vital to the war effort and that the use of alcoholic beverages by the employees of the said industries might have a detrimental effect on the performance of the precision work engaged in by the said employees.

“In reviewing all of the testimony submitted at the hearing, the board finds that the applicant is a person of good reputation and that the premises proposed to be licensed comply with the physical requirements prescribed by the law.

“However, in view of the fact that the United States is engaged in a global war, and the granting of the li[406]*406cense in question is protested by two industrial plants engaged in the production of materials necessary to the successful prosecution of the war effort and located in close proximity to the place sought to be licensed, the board is of the opinion that the protest should be sustained and the license refused. Therefore, the following order is made:

“Order

“And Now, January 20,1943, for the above reasons it is ordered and decreed that the restaurant liquor license and amusement permit applied for by Thaddeus J. Yarosz for premises located in the Township of Potter and County of Beaver be and they are hereby refused.

“Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board”

It appearing that the applicant is a person of good reputation, and that the premises comply with the requirements prescribed by law, we directed the Commonwealth to proceed, and we took the evidence and testimony of the remonstrants, which were the Beaver County Institution District, the St. Joseph Lead Company, and the Koppers Company. A petition, signed by a large majority of the electors of the township, was also presented. It is proper that remonstrants be heard by both the board and the court upon appeal, but for the purpose only of giving competent testimony and for no other. Petitions and remonstrances, as such, have no place in the present liquor laws. Their appeal must be made to the legislature or to a referendum election. See Weinstein and Murman’s Appeal, 89 Pitts. L. J. 129, affirmed in 145 Pa. Superior Ct. 476, and Havens’ License, 27 D. & C. 376, in which the court said (p. 380) :

“In the absence of any provisions in the Liquor Control Act similar to those in the former Brooks High License Act, providing for the filing of remonstrances [407]*407by citizens and the calling of witnesses to express their opinions on the advisability of granting the license, the court has no right or authority to give consideration to such remonstrances or evidence. In the absence of statutory provision they are not legal evidence. The existing legislation does not make the courts an independent licensing authority and does not vest in them the power to exercise their personal views as to the moral phase of the liquor question, or as to the desirability of the granting of any particular license. The sole purpose of the appeal provided for by the act is to prevent an unreasonable or arbitrary exercise of power or an abuse of discretion on the part of the Liquor Control Board: In re Refusal of Liquor License of Atwood Hotel, 14 Wash. Co. 74. If the board committed any substantial error in its conclusions of law or deductions of fact, such error would be a technical abuse of discretion and would require the sustaining of the appeal. The court respects and fully appreciates the opinions of the remonstrants and the high motives which inspired their protest, but it is powerless, under the provisions of the Liquor Control Act, to take cognizance of them. If the residents of the district are opposed to licenses generally on moral grounds, they have a remedy under the local option provisions of the act.”

In Weinstein and Murman’s Appeal, supra, Judge McNaugher of Allegheny County held as follows (p. 130) :

“The question has been raised whether the court may affirm a refusal by the board to grant a license where the complaint is brought by private citizens and the evidence to support it is produced by them and not by agents of the liquor control board. The answer seems to us obvious. No matter what the source of complaint, if the evidence makes out a case of law violation and is found to be credible, the court will sustain the board’s action. We understood counsel for the applicants at [408]*408one of the hearing sessions to say that in the appeal of Julia Theoharus at No. 272 January sessions 1940 in the court of quarter sessions of Tioga county, Pennsylvania, Judge Crichton expressed a contrary opinion. We do not think that any language which he used affords any basis for such a contention. What he did say was this:

“ ‘If anything is apparent from our recent legislation on liquor licensing it is that general moral and economic objections to its sale existing in the minds of the citizens but not effectuated by an election in the manner provided by law, have nothing to do with the duty of the board to grant a license when the statutes have been complied with and that body is satisfied that the license will be exercised in accordance with those statutes and with its reasonable regulations promulgated under the authority thereof. And as the board is bound, so is this court. For either to accept public sentiment or pressure as the guide to its action is to substitute the individual will for the authority of law and to help pave the way for the subversion of the American idea that general rules should govern and not the will of any officer or citizen or group of citizens.’

“But this is very far from saying that the testimony of private citizens may not be introduced to show that the statutes have not been complied with.”

' Under the record the question before us is one of pure law, which is: After the person and the place have met all requirements and the approval of the board, can the board refuse a restaurant liquor license on grounds not embraced in the statute? The answer is “no”.

This is not a case of first impression; it is simply the first time the board has followed discretion and departed from the plain letter of the law.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Lithuanian Beneficial Association's Club Liquor License Case
17 A.2d 912 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1940)
Rydewski's Appeal
183 A. 437 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1936)
Revocation of Mark's License
176 A. 254 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1934)
Spankard's Liquor License Case
10 A.2d 899 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1939)
Weinstein & Murman's Liquor License Case
21 A.2d 431 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1941)
Cheris's Liquor License Case
193 A. 162 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1937)
McGettigan's Liquor License Case
200 A. 213 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1938)
Oriole's Liquor License Case
22 A.2d 611 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1941)
Mami's Liquor License Case
19 A.2d 549 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1940)
Fanning's License
23 Pa. Super. 622 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1903)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
47 Pa. D. & C. 404, 1943 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yaroszs-license-paqtrsessbeaver-1943.