Restaurant Liquor License Intermunicipal Transfer Quashal of Appeal
Giant Food Stores, LLC v. Penn Twp., PICS Case No. 17-1229 (Pa. Commw. July 18, 2017) Covey, J. (23 pages).
Trial court erred in quashing appeal of municipality's denial of intermunicipal liquor license transfer where, although appeal from a municipal adjudication was expressly prohibited by the Liquor Code, the Local Agency Law nonetheless provided a separate, additional right of appeal. Order of the trial court reversed.
Giant Food Stores, LLC, appealed the trial court's granting Penn Township's motion to quash Giant's appeal from the township's denial of Giant's request for an intermunicipal transfer of a restaurant liquor license. After entering an agreement to purchase the license, Giant requested the township's approval to transfer the license from Tredyffrin Township to Giant's store located in Penn Township. Because a transfer of a liquor license into a municipality that had exceeded its statutory quota required the receiving municipality to approve the transfer, the township held a hearing, following which the township board adopted a resolution denying the transfer request.
The Liquor Code provided no right of appeal from a municipality's denial of a transfer, so Giant appealed the township's decision to the trial court, pursuant to the Local Agency Law, which authorized appeals from local agency adjudications even where statutes explicitly denied such right. The township moved to quash Giant's appeal as premature, which was granted by the trial court. The trial court ruled that Giant was required to apply to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to transfer the license without a municipal approval, wait for PLCB to deny the application, and then appeal from that denial pursuant to the Liquor Code, which authorized appeals from PLCB decisions.
On appeal, Giant argued that the trial court erred in quashing its appeal of the township's decision. Although Giant acknowledged that the Liquor Code expressly prohibited appeals of a municipality's denial of an intermunicipal liquor license transfer, it argued that such an appeal was nevertheless permitted by the Local Agency Law. The court agreed, noting the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's holding in Maritime Mgmnt., Inc. v. Pa. Liquor Control Bd., 611 A.2d 202, which stated that the right of appeal in the Administrative Agency Law, whose relevant provisions were identical to those of the Local Agency Law, was separate from and in addition to any right of appeal provided by the Liquor Code.