Opinion ID: 2320276
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Mr Bassford's Status

Text: There was unquestionably injected into this case, at the Board level, a suspicion that Mr. Bassford had a financial interest in at least two existing restaurants in the county that sold alcoholic beverages in connection with their operation and that he had some sort of interest in Annapolis Producethe company that would own and operate the restaurant at issue here as well. Notwithstanding that suspicion and the assertions that generated it, the Board, at least implicitly, found as a fact that Bassford would have no financial interest in the license applied for by Woodfield. The two lower courts disagreed with that finding and held, essentially, that there was no substantial evidence to support it. The actual evidence before the Board in support of the protestants' assertions is very, very thin. Additional documentary evidence, casting further suspicion that Bassford was involved in the formation of companies that operated both existing restaurants operating with a liquor license and in Annapolis Produce, was offered in the Circuit Court but rejected. Those documents could have been offered to the Board but were not. They are not, therefore, in evidence and may not be relied upon in determining the validity of the Board's decision. The Court must deal with the record as it is, not as it could have been, and on the record we have, we cannot conclude that the Board was clearly erroneous in its finding regarding Bassford. Art. 2B, § 16-101(e)(1) sets forth the standard to be applied in judicial review actions from liquor board decisions. Though articulated differently, the statutory standard is consistent with the more general law regarding the review of administrative agency decisions: [T]he action of the local licensing board shall be presumed by the court to be proper and to best serve the public interest. The burden of proof shall be upon the petitioner to show that the decision complained of was against the public interest and that the local licensing board's discretion in rendering its decision was not honestly and fairly exercised, or that such decision was arbitrary, or procured by fraud, or unsupported by any substantial evidence, or was unreasonable, or that such decision was beyond the powers of the local licensing board, and was illegal. Compare Maryland Code, § 10-222(h) of the State Government Article, setting forth the standard for judicial review under the State Administrative Procedures Act, and see United Parcel v. People's Counsel, 336 Md. 569, 577, 650 A.2d 226, 230 (1994) (court's role in judicial review of administrative agency decision limited to determining if there is substantial evidence in the record as a whole to support the agency's findings and conclusions, and to determine if the administrative decision is premised upon an erroneous conclusion of law.). The Board had before it Woodfield's application, in which, under oath, he averred that no one, other than he, was in any way pecuniarily interest[ed] in the license applied for or in the business to be conducted thereunder during the continuance of the license, if issued. Woodfield confirmed that statement, under oath, at the hearing when, in direct response to the Board chairman's question, he stated that Bassford had no interest in the applied-for license. That constituted evidencesubstantial evidence, as it came under oath from the applicantthat Bassford would have no interest in the license. The Board was entitled to credit that evidence. Aside from unsupported statements by protestants that Bassford had an interest in two other restaurants, all that stood in opposition to Woodfield's assertion regarding the license at issue were (1) Rogers's unsuccessful attempt to show that a Dun & Bradstreet report indicated that Bassford was president of Annapolis Produce, and (2) the statement by Woodfield's counsel that, while he believed that Bassford was a principal of some kind in Annapolis Produce, he did not know what interest Bassford actually had in the company. It may well be that Bassford does, indeed, have a direct or indirect financial interest in one or more other licenses and in the license applied for by Woodfield. The problem is that clear and persuasive evidence to that effect was not presented to the Board, which acted, as it had a right to act, upon what was before it. The courts erred in reversing the Board's decision to issue the license. JUDGMENT OF COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS REVERSED; CASE REMANDED TO THAT COURT WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO REVERSE JUDGMENT OF CIRCUIT COURT FOR ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY AND REMAND CASE TO THAT COURT WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO AFFIRM DECISION OF BOARD OF LICENSE COMMISSIONERS OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY; COSTS IN THIS COURT AND IN COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS TO BE PAID BY RESPONDENTS. Judge CATHELL joins in the judgment only.