Court Opinion

ID: 9640799
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:15:33.18825+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:32.897969
License: Public Domain

ELLIS, Justice,
dissenting.
Finding myself in disagreement with the other members of the Court, I record my respectful dissent. I would sustain appellant’s first three points of error and reverse the judgment of the district court.
While I express no opinion as to the culpability of Mr. Wishnow and I do not condone the violations alleged to have been committed by him, I believe the law should more specifically inform a permittee of the conduct which is proscribed by the Code and for which his permits may be cancelled or suspended. Accordingly, I would hold that §§ 11.61(b)(7) and 104.01(2) of the Alcoholic Beverage Code are unconstitutionally vague and overbroad because they fail to define key words or phrases so as to provide a sufficiently definite warning to the permittee as to the proscribed conduct. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission v. Wishnow, 704 S.W.2d 425 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1985, no writ). The broad interpretations given such words and phrases as “lewd”, “immoral”, “offensive to public decency”, “the exposure of person”, and “permitting a person to expose his person” make it virtually impossible for a permittee to follow with any certainty the mandates of the Code provisions. For this reason I would reverse the judgment of the district court and set aside TABC’s administrative order suspending appellant’s permits.