Dept. of Alcoholic Bev. Control v. Alcoholic Bev. Control App. Bd.

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (Department) issued a 15-day suspension of an off-sale general license held by the Garfield Beach CVS LLC Longs Drug Stores California LLC, doing business as CVS Pharmacy Store 9174 (CVS) after an administrative law judge found the store clerk sold alcohol to a minor decoy. The Alcohol Beverage Control Appeals Board (Appeals Board) reversed the suspension based on California Code of Regulations, title 4, section 141 (Rule 141) that allowed a law enforcement agency to use an underage decoy only "in a 'fashion that promotes fairness.'" In the Appeals Board's view, the suspension was unfair because the minor decoy did not respond about his age when the store clerk looked at his driver license and remarked, "I would never have guessed it, you must get asked a lot." The Department challenged the reversal of the license suspension, contending it correctly interpreted Rule 141 to require minor decoys to answer only questions about their ages. Based on the administrative law judge's finding in this case that the store clerk's remark constituted a statement rather than a question, the Department argued its decision was legally correct and supported by substantial evidence. The Appeals Board countered Rule 141 was ambiguous and resulted "in confusion and manifest unfairness." And CVS argued the Department's interpretation of Rule 141 unfairly allowed decoys to remain silent in the face of mistaken statements about age. According to CVS, affirming the license suspension would allow deceptive and misleading silence in the face of a store clerk's explicit mistake about the minor decoy's age. The Court of Appeal concluded Rule 141 was not ambiguous in requiring minor decoys to answer truthfully only questions about their ages. Because substantial evidence supported the administrative law judge's factual finding the decoy in this case was not questioned about his age, the Court determined as a matter of law that Rule 141 did not provide CVS with a defense to the accusation it sold an alcoholic beverage to an underage buyer. Accordingly, the Court reversed the Appeals Board's decision. View "Dept. of Alcoholic Bev. Control v. Alcoholic Bev. Control App. Bd." on Justia Law