Title: Castlewood International Corporation v. Wynne
Citation: 294 So. 2d 321
Docket Number: 43858
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: April 17, 1974

294 So. 2d 321 (1974)
CASTLEWOOD INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, a Florida Corporation, Appellant,
v.
Winston WYNNE, As Director of the Division of Beverage, et al., Appellees. Beer Industry of Florida, Inc., a Florida Corporation, Intervenor.
No. 43858.

Supreme Court of Florida.
April 17, 1974.
Rehearing Denied June 5, 1974.
Elizabeth J. du Fresne, of Tobias Simon and Elizabeth J. du Fresne, Miami, for appellant.
Herbert M. Klein, Miami, for appellees.
William B. Killian and Joseph P. Klock, of McCarthy, Steel, Hector &amp; Davis, Miami, and Lee L. Willis, of Ausley, Ausley, McMullen, McGehee &amp; Carothers, Tallahassee, for intervenor.
PER CURIAM.
This is an appeal from an order entered in the Circuit Court in Leon County, which directly passed upon the validity of Florida Statutes § 562.21, F.S.A. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Florida Constitution, Art. V, Section 3(b)(1), F.S.A.
During oral argument, counsel agreed that a determination as to the validity of the statute should be made from the record before us without the taking of further pleadings and hearings on remand.
*322 The plaintiff corporation does business as "Big Daddy's Liquors and Lounges", and is a retail vendor of liquor, wine, and beer for consumption both on and off the premises.
The primary defendant is the Director of the Division of Beverage of the Department of Business Regulation with the remaining defendants being the Division of Beverage and the Department of Business Regulation, State of Florida.
The Beer Industry of Florida, Inc., was allowed to intervene as a defendant.
Appellant filed a suit for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief seeking to obtain a declaration that Florida Statutes § 562.21, F.S.A. is unconstitutional. Said statute provides in part:
Plaintiff concedes that liquor retailers are subject to a special regulation, but asserts that the regulation under review must be rational and non-discriminatory.
Plaintiff next argues the statute's application is not rational and is discriminatory, thus causing injury to the plaintiff. Therefore this class of retail vendors of "beer and wine" are invidiously discriminated against, as alleged in its complaint:
Plaintiff also alleges damages involved in its business (financially and through risk of personnel).
Finally, and attributing irreparable harm being imposed by the statute under review, plaintiff's prayer for its invalidity states among other things:
The trial court promptly dismissed the case for failure to state a cause of action, thereby upholding the validity of the statute under review. This appeal followed.
The constitutional issue of the statute, sub judice, has been properly raised and we accept the challenge and invitation to answer it, with the additional pertinent observation that our State Legislature will have the opportunity to correct any destructive deficiencies found therein.
For example, the 1973 Legislative Committee on Business Regulation, Florida House of Representatives, filed a provocative report in support of the plaintiff's position.[1]
In our review we cannot ignore the commanding constitutional standards asserted by the plaintiff, in support of its position, as the proper criteria surrounding the validity or invalidity of the statute in question.
Neither are we unmindful of the decisions rendered: Pickerill v. Schott, Fla. 1951, 55 So. 2d 716; Overstreet v. Lee, Fla. App. 1963, 152 So. 2d 201, Mayhue's Super Liquor Store, Inc. v. Meiklejohn, 5th Cir.1970, 426 F.2d 142; and Musleh v. Fulton Distributing Company of Florida, Fla. App. 1971, 254 So. 2d 815.
Quite obviously the State's authority to license for sale and dispensation of intoxicating beverages (irrespective of the designation, nature and kind) cannot condone such authority to be used in any fashion directly in confrontation with the guarantees of equal protection and/or due process afforded to all people.
In Sherbert v. Verner, 1963, 374 U.S. 398, 83 S. Ct. 1790, 10 L. Ed. 2d 965, there appears this admonition:
In Perry v. Sindermann, 1972, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S. Ct. 2694, 33 L. Ed. 2d 570, the U.S. Supreme Court stated:
Next there are those cases dealing with impermissibility of inequity in conditioning governmental benefits (even privileges), in the "industries" under review: Block v. Thompson, 5th Cir.1973, 472 F.2d 587; Barnes v. Merritt, 5th Cir.1967, 376 F.2d 8; Hornsby v. Allen, 5th Cir.1964, 326 F.2d 605.
Also we must consider the effect of the language contained in Mayhue v. City of Plantation, 5th Cir.1967, 375 F.2d 447, which essentially states:
Sub judice, there appears a patent invidious discrimination to those retail vendors of beer and wine. First such retail vendors are subservient to and in contrast with vendors of hard liquors who are given ten days credit (parenthetically, opposite to all other merchants of other businesses in the retail market). Second, discrimination demonstrates itself within this sole industry (beer and wine) when the retailer of such must pay cash on his purchase from the distributor, but the distributor may negotiate on credit with the manufacturer or brewery ... and the vendor may parlance a credit with the purchaser of his or its sales. Certainly, an invidious hiatus exists within the statute itself, thus creating an unjustified dichotomy in our era of 1974.
Our conclusion acknowledges the power of the Legislature to impose legitimate burdens upon licensees involved in the intoxicating beverage industry. However, such restrictions must be rationally related to the purpose in issue, as referred to and defined in our earlier cases involving the "tidehouse evil" laws, supra.
Singling out one vendor of an intoxicating beverage, as opposed to another, does not constitutionally serve or satisfy this purpose.
Accordingly, F.S. § 562.21, F.S.A., is hereby declared unconstitutional and the cause is remanded for proceedings and entry of an order consistent herewith.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, C.J., and ROBERTS, ERVIN, McCAIN and DEKLE, JJ., concur.
BOYD, J., dissents.
[1]  Report on the History of Florida Alcoholic Beverage Legislation, prepared by the Committee on Business Regulation, House of Representatives, 1973, Bill Andrews, Chairman, pp. 36, 38, 39:

"No reason or justification has been discovered for changing the original concept of reasonable credit to cash sales, except the obvious financial benefit to the distributors. "This is another example of subverting the original purpose of the tidehouse evil law from a law encouraging free and open competition to a law providing for restraint on competition and special privileges for the industry.
"...
The requirement that all beer and wine sales to retail licensees be for cash only does not serve any public purpose. It does not encourage competition. It, in fact, eliminates it. But it does result in enormous benefit to the wholesale beer distributor. In addition to guaranteeing one-hundred percent collection to the distributors, it made available thousands of dollars of tax receipts for use as working capital in their business ...
"It seems incredible that in addition to letting these distributors use these funds as working capital without cost, we pay them a fee of three percent per month, or thirty-six percent per annum for their effort."