Court Opinion

ID: 9705053
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:55:30.844865+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:09.911792
License: Public Domain

White, C. Thomas, J.,
dissenting.
Appeal from a decision of the Liquor Control Commission denying the issuance of a license is controlled by the provisions of section 53-1,116, R. R. S. 1943. “The appeal, provided for or referred to in subsections (5), (6), and (7) of this section, shall be heard and tried de novo in the district court in the manner provided for the trial of suits in equity. Additional testimony may be introduced at the hearing on appeal.” Subsection (5) of that section provides: “Any decision of the commission granting or refusing to grant or revoking or refusing to revoke or renew a license or permit for the sale of alcoholic liquors, including beer, may be reversed, vacated, or modified by the district court of the county where the applicant for a license * * * resides.” This court has held that on trial de novo, the court should not reverse the order of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission unless its action was unreasonable or arbitrary. See T & N P Co., Inc. v. Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, 189 Neb. 708, 204 N. W. 2d 809.
At the trial in the District Court, the Omaha city ordinance was introduced in evidence as was the recommendation of the city council of Omaha, Nebraska, for denial. The recommendation was based solely on the city council’s interpretation of its own ordinance. The trial court had before it the ordinance and placed a construction thereon which appears both reasonable and correct. It held that the city council had misinterpreted its own ordinance. Therefore, the commission had based its denial of the liquor license on the recommendation of the city council which misinterpreted its own ordinance. There was, therefore, no evidence on which a denial of the application could be sustained. Without addressing itself directly to the correctness of the Dis*740trict Court’s interpretation, the majority opinion merely suggests that the interpretation placed on the ordinance by the District Court was one of several possible interpretations. It emphasizes that the city council did, in fact, recommend a denial of the application and refuses to consider the reasons for the recommendation.
Without, at this time, questioning the accuracy of the rule announced in T & N P Co., Inc. v. Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, supra, I specifically object to the majority’s partial overruling of J K & J, Inc. v. Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, 194 Neb. 413, 231 N. W. 2d 694. There is no question that under the plain terms of the statute, the District Court had the power to do what it did, that is, to order the commission to issue a license. To restate subsection (5) of section 53-1,116, R. R. S. 1943: “Any decision of the commission * * * refusing to grant * * * a license or permit for the sale of alcoholic liquors, including beer, may be reversed, vacated, or modified by the district court * * (Emphasis supplied.) It ought to be elementary that if the District Court possesses such power, this court also does. It is suggested that this court has no power on appeal in an appropriate case to give the relief which the District Court should have granted in the first instance. Our appellate authority is not so limited. The District Court was correct in directing the granting of the license. The most that may be said for the majority position is that the question of the correct interpretation of the ordinance ought to be met and, if the District Court’s interpretation was correct, to remand the matter to the Liquor Control Commission with directions to consider anew the question of its denial of the license.