COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Benton, Annunziata and Senior Judge Cole 

Argued at Richmond, Virginia 

FEVER'S INC. t/a 

 FEVER'S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE 

 OPINION BY 

v. Record No. 1329-96-2 JUDGE JAMES W. BENTON, JR. 

 FEBRUARY 18, 1997 

VIRGINIA ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE 

 CONTROL BOARD 

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY 

Richard S. Blanton, Judge 

 A. Pierre Jackson for appellant. 

 Louis E. Matthews, Jr., Assistant Attorney 

General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney 

General; Michael K. Jackson, Senior Assistant 

Attorney General and Chief, on brief), for 

appellee. 

 The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board revoked the 

wine and beer and mixed beverage licenses held by Fever's, Inc. 

trading as Fever's Restaurant and Lounge. The Board found that 

(1) cause existed to deny Fever's a license because Fever's was 

"so located that violations of the ABC Act or laws of the 

Commonwealth relating to peace and good order" resulted, see Code 

§ 4.1-222(A)(2)(b); and (2) on July 31, 1994, Fever's "allowed 

noisy or disorderly conduct" on its premises, in violation of 

Code § 4.1-225(1)(h). Upon a petition for review, the circuit 

court judge found reasonable cause to believe that Fever's 

allowed noisy or disorderly conduct on its premises on July 31, 

1994, affirmed the Board's decision on that ground, and stated 

that he "need not address the other issues raised in this 
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matter." Fever's appeals from that decision and contends that 

the evidence was insufficient to support the revocations. For 

the reasons that follow, we reverse the trial judge's ruling 

upholding the Board's decision concerning the July 31, 1994 

incident and remand the case to the trial judge for consideration 

of the Board's other ground for revoking the licenses. 

 I. 

 The facts concerning the July 31, 1994 incident are 

essentially undisputed. At the evidentiary hearing, William 

Harding, the sole stockholder of the licensee and operator of the 

business, testified that he had planned an outdoor music festival 

for July 31, 1994, on the three acres of property adjacent to and 

owned by his restaurant in Prince Edward County. The event was 

planned to be "an outdoor festival . . . out on the ball field 

with several DJs with lots of barbecue, food and everything." 

 Harding always employed security personnel at the 

restaurant, including off-duty police officers. Harding 

testified that on a normal night he would have at least two 

bartenders on duty, one doorman, "two floor wardens, and three to 

four security." Because the festival was to be held outdoors on 

July 31, Harding had more security personnel on his premises than 

usual. 

 When it rained that evening, Harding moved the event inside 

his restaurant, which has a dance hall permit issued by the 

county. To reduce the number of people inside the premises, 
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Harding raised the entry fee from $10 to $15. The evidence 

regarding the number of patrons on the premises that night was 

disputed. Special Agent L. E. Williams testified that after the 

incident, Harding told him that approximately 600 people were in 

Fever's that night. Harding testified that his dance hall permit 

did not limit the number of patrons. In August 1994, after the 

event, the sheriff told Harding that the county administration 

office said the proper capacity for his facility was 

approximately 266 people. 

 The evidence proved that at 2:00 a.m. a disc jockey played 

"Rough It Up," a song that inspired the crowd to engage in "slam 

dancing," a dance that involves people intentionally colliding 

with one another. Harding testified that the disc jockeys had 

been warned not to play that song and that most disc jockeys knew 

not to play that song at a public dance establishment. Harding 

testified that when the disc jockey played the song, he ordered 

his staff to turn the lights on and asked everyone to leave. 

Harding had several employees in the parking lot who used 

flashlights to assist in directing the cars out of the parking 

lot. 

 Larry Womack, the doorman, testified that when the disc 

jockey played the song, "Rough It Up," patrons began to dance and 

shove each other. When the bumping occurred, the security 

personnel turned on the lights and began to escort people from 

the building. Roger Jackson, a deputy sheriff who routinely 
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stopped by the restaurant at closing time, also testified that he 

was inside the restaurant at 2:00 a.m. when the disc jockey 

played the song, "Rough It Up." He said the patrons who were 

dancing began pushing each other. As things began to get out of 

control, he called for assistance from the county sheriff and the 

town police. 

 Officer Earle Townsend testified that at approximately 2:45 

a.m., he received a call that an officer at Fever's was seeking 

additional assistance. When Townsend arrived, the music had been 

turned off but the disc jockey was still screaming into the 

microphone. As the patrons were being escorted outside, some of 

the patrons began to fight outside the building. Shortly after 

Townsend went outside to disburse the patrons, he heard gunshots 

on a neighboring property, the Sportsmen's Arena. The shots were 

fired near the Arena, approximately one hundred yards away from 

Fever's on the road that leads from Fever's to the highway. 

Townsend went to the location where the shots were fired, found 

the victims, and sent them to the hospital in rescue vehicles. 

The police arrested one person at that location. 

 A police officer, Bobby Simmons, testified that he was 

employed by Fever's, as his second job, to act as a security 

guard on July 31, 1994. Simmons initially worked outside, but 

after fights erupted inside the restaurant, Simmons was called 

inside. Simmons also testified that after the fighting started, 

he began to move patrons out of the restaurant and heard 
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gunshots. Womack testified that the shots were at the 

Sportsmen's Arena. Womack further testified that when the deputy 

sheriffs went to the area of the Sportsmen's Arena, the sheriff's 

department momentarily stopped the people leaving Fever's from 

exiting onto the highway. As a result, the traffic leaving 

Fever's slowed. 

 Officer Townsend also testified that he was approached in 

downtown Farmville at approximately 3:30 a.m. by a vehicle whose 

occupants asked for directions to a hospital. An occupant of the 

vehicle had a gunshot wound. Townsend led the people to the 

hospital. Friends of the victim followed them and engaged in 

misconduct at the hospital. One arrest was made at the hospital. 

 However, no testimony linked those people to the Fever's 

incident. 

 Special Agent Williams testified that "[o]n July 31, 1994, 

one person was stabbed, two people were shot and eight others 

received medical assistance from three different hospitals." 

Sheriff Southall stated that the people involved in the 

misconduct had been patrons at Fever's. 

 Other evidence in the record, unrelated to the events of 

July 31, 1994, proved that instances of misconduct had occurred 

at Fever's in the past. Because the testimony was disputed and 

the trial judge did not rely upon those incidents in rendering 

his decision, we do not address that evidence. 

 II. 
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 "Under Code § 9-6.14:17, the scope of review is limited to 

whether there was 'substantial evidence in the agency record' to 

support the decision. . . . The court may reject the agency's 

findings of fact 'only if, considering the record as a whole, a 

reasonable mind would necessarily come to a different 

conclusion.'" Atkinson v. Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control 

Comm'n, 1 Va. App. 172, 176, 336 S.E.2d 527, 529-30 (1985) 

(citations omitted). Contrary to the Board's finding, we 

conclude that the record lacks substantial evidence to support 

the finding that Harding, the owner and manager of Fever's, 

"allowed noisy, lewd or disorderly conduct upon the licensed 

premises" on July 31, 1994. "We recognize that the substantial 

evidence standard accords great deference to the findings of the 

administrative agency, but even under this standard the evidence 

must be relevant to the conclusion reached." Id. at 178, 336 

S.E.2d at 531. 

 The evidence proved that Harding had a history of 

cooperating with the police, that he employed many security 

personnel at his restaurant on a regular basis, and that he took 

additional precautions on July 31, 1994. Harding specifically 

employed additional security personnel because the event was 

scheduled to be outdoors. When it rained, Harding moved the 

event inside the restaurant and raised the entrance fee in order 

to control the size of the crowd. 

 The evidence further proved that the disc jockeys were 
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warned in advance not to play the song that caused the disruptive 

conduct. In addition, the evidence proved that as soon as the 

disc jockey played the song and patrons became disorderly, 

Harding and his staff took immediate action to regain control. 

They turned the lights on and began asking the patrons to leave. 

 Indeed, the Board adopted the hearing officer's finding that 

"management acted to stop the record and close the 

establishment." 

 In A.B.C. Board v. Village Grill, 217 Va. 632, 231 S.E.2d 

327 (1977), the Supreme Court held that the licensee "allowed" 

misconduct to occur on the premises where the president of the 

licensee assaulted a customer and the vice president of the 

licensee directed abusive language toward police officers. See

id. at 634, 231 S.E.2d at 328-29. No evidence proved that 

Harding or any of the employees of Fever's engaged in misconduct 

on July 31, 1994. In addition, no evidence proved that Harding 

simply watched as the situation deteriorated. Rather, the record 

proved that Harding took reasonable precautions to prepare for 

his event and reacted promptly and reasonably after the crowd 

became disruptive. 

 The Board made no findings that suggest additional 

precautions that Harding could have taken. The trial judge found 

that "the establishment had approximately 600 people there off 

and on throughout the evening." The record established, however, 

that the dance hall permit issued to Fever's did not contain a 
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capacity limitation and that Harding was not informed that the 

county had established a capacity for the restaurant until after 

July 1994. Furthermore, the evidence is undisputed that the 

unexpected playing of music for slam dancing by a disc jockey was 

the precipitating event. Based on this record, we hold that "'a 

reasonable mind would necessarily'" conclude that Harding did not 

"allow" the misconduct to occur at Fever's on July 31, 1994. 

Atkinson, 1 Va. App. at 176, 336 S.E.2d at 530 (citation 

omitted). Harding took reasonable action to prevent the incident 

and to stop the disorder when it occurred. 

 III. 

 The Board also found that the evidence supported a finding 

that "the place occupied by the licensee is so located that 

violations of the ABC Act or the laws of the Commonwealth 

relating to peace and good order have resulted from issuance of 

the license." The trial judge, however, failed to review that 

finding by the Board because he found sufficient evidence to 

support the finding that Harding allowed misconduct to occur at 

Fever's on July 31, 1994. Because we hold that ruling to be 

erroneous, we remand this case to the trial judge for a ruling on 

the Board's other ground for revoking the licenses. On remand, 

the trial judge must determine whether substantial evidence in 

the agency record proves: (1) "that violations of the . . . Act 

or other laws of the Commonwealth relating to peace and good 

order have taken place at [Fever's]," and (2) "that there is some 
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nexus between these violations and the location of [Fever's]." 

Atkinson, 1 Va. App. at 177, 336 S.E.2d at 530. Reversed and remanded.