Court Opinion

ID: 9692290
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 15:50:08.288856+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:33.970761
License: Public Domain

Thomas Gallagher, Justice
(dissenting).
I concur with the majority that the notice under which plaintiff was required to appear before the committee for the purpose of defending his right to continue operations under his license was entirely inadequate and that plaintiff at no time waived his rights with respect to its sufficiency. However, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that notwithstanding this, because someone had previously “discussed” with him certain *178complaints which were nowhere specified in the notice, his constitutional right to due process had not been denied.
Further, I cannot adhere to a concept of due process which would permit hearsay evidence to stand as the main support for findings which in effect will cause plaintiff the loss of an investment of the estimated value of $200,000. Even Minn. St. 600.13, under which the majority hold such evidence is admissible, specifically provides that it shall be prima facie evidence only as to matter contained in the documents referred to therein. It would seem logically to be implied from such language that plaintiff should have been accorded his constitutional right to confront the makers of such reports and to subject them to cross-examination under oath in an effort to overcome the prima facie effect of such evidence.
The majority hold that because plaintiff knew that a number of prostitutes were among his customers that this was sufficient to establish his violation of § 340.14, subd. 2, even though, as defendant concedes, he would have no more right to eject them from his premises than would the owner of any retail establishment which they might choose to patronize. It seems here that plaintiff is made the victim of circumstances he could not control. The recent influx into the city of great numbers of prostitutes from Chicago, Omaha, and Kansas City is known to defendant, and the diligent and conscientious effort of its police department to eliminate them is to be commended. Plaintiff is vested with no legal authority to prevent their coming into his establishment, which by law is open to all adults of their or other racial origins. There is no evidence whatever that plaintiff was aware of the occasions, testified to by members of the police morals squad, when the patrons of his bar turned their efforts toward solicitation of assignments with other customers. The record establishes that before the influx referred to above, plaintiff’s operation of his establishment had been satisfactory, and that on all occasions he cooperated with the police in an effort to maintain a lawful place of business for his patrons.
I do not feel that he should be penalized to the extent of the loss of his property because of an evil which he did not create, which he did not foster or encourage, and which he had no legal authority to con*179trol or eliminate. It is almost certain that even though plaintiff’s place be closed, the evil will continue to exist and that similar problems will arise in other sections of the city for so long as economic conditions and human feelings foreclose legitimate employment opportunities to large segments of our population.