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Street Road Bar & Grille6/20/2005
This appeal presents two questions: (1) which party -- the liquor license applicant or the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board ("the Board") -- bears the burden of proof concerning an applicant's "good repute" for purposes of issuing or transferring a license; and (2) whether, in deciding the question of good repute, the Board may consider an applicant's (a) past history of citations under the Liquor Code and (b) past criminal misdemeanor convictions. In sustaining the Board's denial of the request by appellee, Street Road Bar & Grille, Inc., for a person-to-person transfer of a liquor license, the trial court held that the Board did not err in finding that appellee's officers were not persons of good repute under the Liquor Code, given their prior convictions and extensive citation history. A divided Commonwealth Court panel reversed, holding that the Board had the burden of establishing a lack of good repute, that an applicant's criminal and citation history are irrelevant to a determination of good repute, and that the Board had failed to produce relevant evidence to prove lack of good repute. For the following reasons, we find that the liquor license applicant bears the burden of proof concerning good repute and that the Board and the trial court properly determined that citation history and prior misdemeanor convictions are relevant to the question of good repute. Accordingly, we reverse the order of the Commonwealth Court.
William L. Golden, III, and Thomas Golden are brothers who own and operate appellee bar and restaurant, which is located in Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. William is listed as president, director and stockholder, while Thomas is listed as the secretary/treasurer, director, stockholder and manager. At the time of the hearing below, William had been involved in the restaurant, bar and liquor business for approximately twenty-four years and had been approved for twelve liquor licenses. Thomas had been in the bar and restaurant business for approximately seventeen years and had been approved for four or five liquor licenses.
On January 19, 2001, appellee applied to the Board for a person-to-person transfer of a liquor license. Pursuant to its authority under Section 464 of the Liquor Code, the Board's Bureau of Licensing ultimately scheduled a hearing with respect to objections it had regarding the application including, inter alia, whether the Goldens were responsible and reputable individuals as required under Section 404 of the Liquor Code in light of citations issued to other licensed establishments that they had owned or operated, and in light of their history of misdemeanor convictions. Section 404 provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
Upon receipt of the application and the proper fees, and upon being satisfied of the truth of the statements in the application that the applicant is the only person in any manner pecuniarily interested in the business so asked to be licensed and that no other person will be in any manner pecuniarily interested therein during the continuance of the license, except as hereinafter permitted, and that the applicant is a person of good repute, that the premises applied for meet all the requirements of this act and the regulations of the board, that the applicant seeks a license for a hotel, restaurant or club, as defined in this act, and that the issuance of such license is not prohibited by any of the provisions of this act, the board shall, in the case of a hotel or restaurant, grant and issue to the applicant a liquor license, and in the case of a club may, in its discretion, issue or refuse a license: [Provided, however, that, inter alia,] the board shall have the discretion to refuse a license t
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