457 N.E.2d 320 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1982
This matter is before us on appellant's appeal from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County affirming an order of the Liquor Control Commission upholding the Director of the Department of Liquor Control's decision refusing to renew appellant's liquor permits.
The record reveals that, on January 15, 1981, the Director of the Department of Liquor Control rejected appellant's application to renew its liquor permits for the premises known as the Peppermint Tiger. At a subsequent hearing before the Department of Liquor Control, two police officers, who worked as off-duty security guards at the permit premises, testified concerning numerous fights, arrests, and other problems occurring at appellant's bar, particularly when appellant featured special promotions such as drink and drown nights. Copies and summaries of approximately five hundred thirty police reports, verifying the officers' testimony that police services were frequently requested at appellant's bar, were also introduced into evidence.
Appellant has raised the following four assignments of error in support of this appeal:
"I. The admission of police reports into evidence, by the Liquor Control Commission, is contrary to law as the admission *317 of such records violates the rules set forth in the Ohio Rules of Evidence.
"II. The evidence presented against appellant is not supported by reliable, probative and substantial evidence which demonstrates by a preponderance that appellant committed violations and operated his business in such a manner as would justify the department's failure to renew his license on the basis of good cause. Such finding is contrary to law.
"III. The Department of Liquor Control did not have the authority to fail to renew appellant's license once the resolution, for non-renewal, by the City of Columbus had been dismissed. The failure of the Director to renew appellant's license is contrary to law.
"IV. The Department of Liquor Control did not have the authority to reject the renewal of appellant's license based upon good cause as this term is in violation of appellant's due process rights under the
Appellant's argument supporting his first assignment of error has two branches: he claims that the police reports were not properly authenticated and that the reports constitute inadmissible hearsay.
Evid. R. 901(A) provides that documents are sufficiently authenticated if "evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter in question is what its proponent claims" is introduced. As an illustration of the rule, Evid. R. 901(B)(7) provides that evidence that a "purported public record, report, statement, or data compilation, in any form, is from the public office where items of this nature are kept" is sufficient to authenticate the report. The Columbus police officer who organized and compiled the police reports in question testified that the records were kept by the Columbus Police Department and that he had personally compiled and summarized the reports. This testimony was sufficient to satisfy Evid. R. 901 and to authenticate the documents.
Appellant further argues that the police reports constitute hearsay and were admitted in violation of Evid. R. 802. However, the reports were admitted not to prove the truth of the allegations they contained, but merely to prove that the police were called to appellant's premises on numerous occasions during the time period in question. Since the reports were not offered to prove the truth of their contents, they were not hearsay and were properly admitted. Appellant's first assignment of error is accordingly overruled.
Appellant claims, in his second assignment of error, that the department's order was not supported by reliable, probative and substantial evidence. The department's order stated that the rejection was based on:
"* * * [T]he unreasonable burden which the patrons of this permit business have placed on the local police during a 16 month period. From January 1979 through April, 1980, the police made 260 arrests as a result of 256 disturbance runs to the permit premises."
Appellant argues that only the years 1980 and 1981 should have been considered by the department. Yet, in determining whether "good cause" exists for its refusal to renew a permit, the department is permitted to consider the cumulative effect of continuing violations. In re Appeal of Mendlowitz (1967),
Appellant argues, in support of his third assignment of error, that once the department dismissed the city's resolution requesting the department to reject appellant's application for renewal, the department was precluded from rejecting the application on its own initiative. Appellant's argument is without merit since the city's objection (made under R.C.
Appellant's fourth assignment of error asserts that the term "good cause" is vague and overly broad, and that the denial of appellant's application for renewal for "good cause" violated his due process rights under the
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the court of common pleas is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
REILLY and MCCORMAC, JJ., concur.