Court Opinion

ID: 9769855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 15:04:15.057094+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:08.677835
License: Public Domain

DON BURGESS, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent to the majority’s determination that the trial court abused its discretion in upholding the Board’s decision. As the majority correctly notes, the only issue before the district court, and this court, is whether the Board acted “without reference to any guiding rules or principles” when it determined Larry’s is a restaurant. The majority states, correctly, “[i]f there was some evidence of substantive and probative character that supported the Board’s decision, then the trial court, as well as the Board, did not abuse its discretion and the summary judgments were proper.” The majority then proceeds to wholly ignore the case law provided by the City appellees in support of the Board’s decision. These cases are authority, albeit not controlling, supporting the Board’s determination. They establish the Board’s decision was not “arbitrary or unreasonable.”
Furthermore, there is “some evidence” supporting the Board’s decision. The record establishes Larry’s is a restaurant with on-premise beer and wine. Food was being served at all times dancing was taking place and no admission fee was charged. The dance floor is only 4% of the restaurant area. The main source of income is from the sale of food with very little income from the sale of beer and wine. The restaurant seats 310 people while the dance floor holds only 20. This is certainly “some evidence of . substantive and probative” character supporting the Board’s decision.
The majority holds that Larry’s comes under the definition of “public dance hall” solely because it is a “room, place or space where dancing is permitted.” This potentially leads to absurd results. Does a church become a dance hall if dancing is permitted after a wedding? Does a private hdme become a dance hall if the family “rolls up the rugs” and dances? In spite of the apparent broadness of what is the last phrase of the definition, common sense dictates there must be places where dancing is permitted that are not public dance halls.
The majority also gives weight to the fact that Larry’s applied for and received a dance hall permit. This is not dispositive. The fact that both Larry’s and the City thought a dance hall permit was necessary does not make it so as a matter of law.
In my opinion, the trial court’s determination that Larry’s is a restaurant with dancing, not a dance hall with food, is consistent with the case authority supplied by the City appellees and the evidence in the record and therefore, was not made without reference to any guiding rules or principles. Consequently the decision was *425not arbitrary or unreasonable and does not constitute an abuse of discretion. I would affirm the judgment of the trial court and “laissez le bon temps roulez! ”