Court Opinion

ID: 9699823
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:53:10.324418+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:58.302546
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Judge MacPhail:
I respectfully dissent. The majority holds that the Liquor Control Board (LCB) failed to prove that the licensee or its employees permitted the provision of beer to minors on the licensed premises. This conclusion follows from the majority’s observation that no conclusions may be reasonably drawn as to what the licensee or its employees knew or should have known at the time they sold the beer ultimately found in the unlawful possession of underage individuals. In J-J Bar, Inc., Liquor License Case, 210 Pa. Superior Ct. 349, 233 A.2d 625 (1967), our Superior Court specifically held that whether the bartender knew or should have known that an adult was furnishing wine to a minor was not the issue ,• rather, that Court held that there was a duty imposed by the statute upon the bartender to refuse to permit the adult to furnish liquor to a minor. In Glass Door Liquor License Case, 193 Pa. Superior Ct. 416, 421, 165 A.2d 139, 141 (1960), the Superior Court held that “permitted” was defined as “acquiesced by failing to prevent.” Indeed, our own Court held very recently in Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board v. Grand Marcus One, Inc., t/a The Marc One (No. 2647 C.D. 1981, filed October 29, 1982) that a bartender was under a duty to see to it that adults did not furnish liquor to minors.
In summary, I do not believe that Section 493(1) of the Liquor Code or existing ease law requires the LCB to prove that the licensee or its employees knew *390or had reason to know that liquor was being furnished to minors in order to substantiate a violation of the statute. When, as here, a licensee is specially licensed for a Bavarian festival, an Octoberfest and a Funfest attended by some 1500 persons, the licensee’s duty to prevent the consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors on the premises increases proportionately. The majority’s query regarding the sale of alcoholic beverages at large municipal athletic stadia is answered, I believe, by the language of Section 433.1 of the Code, 47 P.S. §4-433-1 which imposes a duty on the vendors to make such sales “only to adults”. There is no language in that section similar to that contained in Section 493(1) apparently for the reasons implied by the query in the majority opinion. That the legislature chose to make such a distinction may or may not be remarkable; in any event, the legislature has addressed the two situations differently.
The record in the instant case, moreover, demonstrates that the licensee knew minors were on the premises since the testimony is that minors were refused direct sales by the bartender. The minor who testified in the instant case said he had consumed beer on the premises on two prior occasions during the same Octoberfest and that he was given beer on the night in question by another minor.
With respect to footnote 3 in the majority opinion, which is the subject of elaboration in the concurring opinion, I would observe that a witness for the Board testified that the parking lot area was, for the period of time at issue here, licensed by the Board. , That would seem to remove any doubt that the minor was on the licensed premises at the time of the alleged offense.
I would affirm the conclusions of the learned trial judge that “a reasonable reading of the testimony *391causes the conclusion that others obtained the beer for him at his request and that he had the beer in his possession in the licensed area” and “that there is an obligation by a licensee to prohibit minors from being supplied liquor or malt beverages upon the licensed premises.” It is obvious to me that that obligation was not discharged by the licensee in the instant case. I would, accordingly, affirm.