30 Pa. Commw. 323 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1977
Opinion by
The Road Drivers’ Association of Pennsylvania has appealed from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County dismissing its appeal from a Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s order revoking its club liquor license.
The appellant club was charged with selling liquor to a nonmember in violation of Section 406(a) of the
The appellant concedes that its record keeping violated Board regulations to be found at 40 Pa. Code, §§5.72 and 5.73 and that its purchase card was not signed by an officer as required by another regulation. It says, however, that these matters are technical and not so serious as to justify a revocation of its license. The Liquor Control Board and the court below might well have agreed with this thesis, and it might appeal to us were it not for the fact that the appellant was charged on substantial evidence with selling liquor to nonmembers in violation of a statutory prohibition. An enforcement officer of the Liquor Control Board testified that on January 4, 1975 he entered the appellant’s premises and bought two drinks from one Albert Snyder who was tending bar at the time. The enforcement officer was not, of course, a member of the club. Snyder testified that he was a member of the club but that he was not an employee and that on January 4, 1975 he was merely helping the bartender. The appellant says that the
While some of the violations here found were of minor significance, the offense of selling to nonmembers on a club license is serious indeed. Moreover, in In Re Carver House, Inc., 454 Pa. 38, 310 A.2d 81 (1973), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that this court has no power to review penalties imposed by the Board except in rare eases involving constitutional rights.
Order
And Now, this 26th day of May, 1977, it is ordered that the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County made November 17, 1975 be and it is hereby affirmed, and the appeal of Road Drivers’ Association of Pennsylvania be and it is hereby denied.
Section 4.06(a) reads in part:
No club licensee, nor its officers, servants, agents or employes, other than one holding a catering license, shall sell any liquor to any person except a member of the club. . . .