Opinion ID: 1206316
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Regulation Versus Lease

Text: Regulation 13(G), supra, states: A Licensee, desiring to designate an Agent Lessee to operate the liquor license shall file with the Director, Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, his request for the approval of such designation which shall include all of the information concerning the proposed Agent Lessee as is required of an applicant for a liquor license and a certified true copy of the lease agreement. The lease agreement must contain provisions that the license is leased in its entirety. (Emphasis supplied). The lease agreement provided in its paragraph numbered XXII, inter alia, that: Lessee further covenants and agrees that the Lease herein granted covers use of such license on the premises described    above. Lessor specifically reserves the right to use such license on the remaining designated premises, to-wit, all recreational area encompassed in the original designation of premises on file with the Liquor Control Division of the Bureau of Revenue of the State of New Mexico. (Emphasis supplied). The clear intent of the A.B.C. regulation is to prevent the split use of a single liquor license, since such splitting would be, among other things, an obvious way to circumvent § 46-5-24, N.M.S.A. 1953, which imposes a limit on the number of liquor licenses allowed in this state. The A.B.C. regulation, therefore, manifests the public policy of this state. Contracts in violation of the public policy of the state cannot be enforced. Granger v. Caviness, 64 N.M. 424, 329 P.2d 439 (1958); Davis v. Savage, 50 N.M. 30, 168 P.2d 851 (1946). The lease involved herein is void as against public policy. The lease is, moreover, not severable. The obligations under the lease are not divisible from the obligations under the reservation clause. There is absolutely no indication in the language used by the parties that they intended the lease agreement to be severable and the intent of the parties, as ascertained from the express language used in the lease, controls. Leonard v. Barnes, 75 N.M. 331, 404 P.2d 292 (1965). We cannot attempt to make the lease legal by deleting the paragraph containing the reservation clause, since to do so would be to change that obvious express intent. This Court's duty is confined to interpretation of the contract made by the parties and we will not alter their intent or make a new agreement for them by rewriting the contract. Kimberly, Inc. v. Hays, 88 N.M. 140, 537 P.2d 1402 (1975); Leonard v. Barnes, supra ; Davies v. Boyd, 73 N.M. 85, 385 P.2d 950 (1963); Sanders v. Freeland, 64 N.M. 149, 325 P.2d 923 (1958); Fuller v. Crocker, 44 N.M. 499, 105 P.2d 472 (1940). We hold, as a matter of law, that the lease agreement was not intended by the parties to be severable. Arrow Gas Company of Dell City, Texas v. Lewis, 71 N.M. 232, 377 P.2d 655 (1962). See Prudential Insurance Company of America v. Anaya, 78 N.M. 101, 428 P.2d 640 (1967). Since the lease is void ab initio as a matter of law, there is no room for this Court to consider enforcing it in any way by the use of our equitable powers. Weingardt's claim that the district court lacked jurisdiction because the action herein amounted to an appeal from an administrative action has no merit. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. IT IS SO ORDERED. McMANUS, C.J., and FEDERICI, J., concur.