Case Information
*1 OFFICE OF THE A’ITORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN
Ronorable Bert <Ford
A&iinlstrcttor Texas Liquor Coritrol Zoard
Audln, Texas
Dofir Siri
. ;.
ereinabove oaptlon- ve betore ua the with your letterr rem racoipt i 8-16-27.
arit of Arelious Price.
iY;e quote from your letter as follows: "Tha attached explain.the alail~ which the. instruments -&press Agenoy is requestlog the Texce Liquor
Railway Control ljoard to settle by the replaoment of the loot stempa herein described.
Hon. Bert Ford, page 2
‘The Texas Liquor Control &ard baa requested me to aeoure your valued opinion aa to whother or not It would be authorized to m&e this replacement .I)
The raotr, as rotated In your letter mm m. X. R. Tart, hereinabove referred to, a8 follows: ,
“Mr. l!i. L, Bodello, our General Agent at AUI- tin, reosntly adtlrrsd fou that #a had loat while In In air exprem serrloo, a paokagr oi tranrlt
rrtampr valued at 91008 and, a8 wo had scoured eon- alusIro stidenoo that tho atampa war4 aotually dor- troyed, Mr. Bode110 requested InfoIIPatIon as to just what prooeduro should be followed presenting our applloation to aeoure a duplicate lot OS atampa.
“The lot of, atmps referred to were oontaided . inn paokage valued at $1008 and forwarded by Eo-
Kessoh & Robblna a Houston, .ador date of Feb. 10, 1941, addreaeed to 8. E. Pague DIstlllery, KayavIllo, ’ KY. Thin shipment moved In air sxprees aerolco trolp
Eouston, Feb. lot&, oovrred by, our air tixpreaa waybill 8-16-27 of same data, routed via Olnolnnati. The shlp- mant was raoeipted for at Houston by our driver, II;. f.
Landgrobe, at 4:OO P. I(.,, Feb. 10th.’ and war ala- patohod from Hourton via Eastom Air Llno trip #22 de& parting rrom the Houaton~AIrport at 8158 P.IE. -that data.
Vhie Eastern Air Line trip arrirod In Atlanta, ‘h., at 1145 A. X., Feb. 11, 1941, and you will find attaohed an aiiidavlt ereauted by one Arsllour Prioo, a negro porter who was then employed by the ‘Eastern artldnvlt Air LInea In Atlanta, outlines all of the Information in oonneotion with the theft of thfr partloular enrslopo ot rtampr and the dertruo- tlon the stamp by fire. The evidence 444x14 eon- clusive~that the atamps w4r4 actually destroyed.
“Railway Express will of course oalbd upon to entertain olaim of aznount $1006 prorIdi$g wo aannot a duplioato lot of atampa and dellvsr ramo to 44aur4 wc~sson & Robblns, Fiouston, to satirfy their olaim.
Will you please give ooneideratlon to dells- @ring to Mr. IS. L. Bodello, our Goneral Agent, Awtln, *3 ’ L
iion. Bert Ford, pass 3
8 dupllmto lot 0r liquor 6tMIpS v8lu4a at S1008, with the unaerstandlng that ths Eallway Xxpross will hold for any loss the Liquor itself rosponsiblo %ard i&,&t inOUr iA ~JinoOtiOn With fUlTii8hiDg the dupllcato stamps - In other words, protoot the Ecard ar:alnst t&e posslbls rooovory OS the orlglnal lot or 8tamp8.*
The afrblnvft of krolious Price stat08 that ho did tho paokago contaInIGg llquor steel, ooioeal and doetroy stamps ‘la question while hsndllng the air express In hi8 oapn- city as a porter at tho Kuniolpal Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on the norslng of February 11, 1041.
L’nlsss authority 1s glvoan to the Texas Liquor Control toerd In ths Toxar Liquor Control .hot, tha board uould not bs liquor stanqs thst were stolen to replace authorized from a aosmn carrier and. subsequently dsstroyod by thr thief. 66d-45 (d) , Vernon’s knnotatod. Ponal Codo,
Artlolo
provisos as r0110=8: Ror~ds for strmps JGy bo mdo’by 96).
the Texas Liquor Control Board iToP) thomdronuo Of stamp 84104 borers the 88&a has b44n allooatod.
A refund say be mado by, th4 Board 4ll~ oases tiero stamped liquor is roturnod to the distlllorg or ranufaoturor upon a oortlrloation an lnapoo- tor or tho Board who lnspsotoa the shlpnont. The Boas& may also mko a refund to any parson who was to purchase stamps and M~ho 18 pos- authorized session or unused stanps upon dlsoontInuatlon 0r lnstanoo, It mat bo shown that In olther the- business. puroharod the stainps, olalmaut for whloh 8 refund la askrd, from the Stato Troasuror. ?Zo other (‘Jndorscorlng 0uEE mbna8 shall be allowea.w Ths haroInaboYo quoted statute is the only author- ity under which the board 18 authorized to xnaks refunds for 4tamp8. The statute olenrly llmlts the board’s auth- liquor ority to make refunds for liquor stac;ps to “oases where stanDed or mtmtiaoturor upon a Is returned to thr distillery oortlflcatlon by an lnspaotor of the board who ln8peot4d tho shlpmmt ,” ma *tc any person who was suthorlzod to purohbso etamps ena who 1s in pos6oesfon uausod atams upon aisoon- tlnuation or business.” (Underscoring ours) ‘iho Statute
c *4 ..- 51 .* . Hon. Bert Ford, piye-4
exprsa8ly dl8allow8 any other refunda.
xt is, of oourso, obrlous that the bccrd wouU'bo un- authorized to mbk4 8 rofwd t0 the Railway ExpTOsS AgeaCy for the lost stamp8 under th4 raotr hers inv0lroa. ,
It might be oontoid46 that a for stamps, as that tow is used the quotod statuts only means to rotund the money and does not include the repiaclng of thr-lost stamps by~Issulng duplloste stamps. Whothor said tori lnoludes both tho rofundlng of tho money or the lost stamps and the iesulng of duplloato rtamps in lieu of th4 lost 8tamp8, 18 a question not nooo8sary for ua to drcldo in this case, WI, thenforo, oxpross no opinion thoroon.
If both mothods of allowanoo aro~ombraood wlthln thi' tona ~rorunds for stampsw as used in th4 statutr, tbo board would be ox~z'oss~y donlrd the authority to replace the lost stamps by issuing duplloato stamp6 to the Railway &xpross Agency, for the roa&cn t&t ths olroumstances of this oaso nro not such as the statuto provides shall the oxoluslv4 cIrcumstanoos under which refunds stamps may b0 mad8 the board.
If tho statute la rostrlctod to the refunding of money for the stamps, board would still be without authority to mako tho replao%Eunt cf tho lost stamps as we hnvo baon unabla to rind any other statute in the ect giving tho board authority to roplaoo loat stamps by IssuIng duplIoato stamps.
lou are respectfully odvlsod, therofor4, that it I8'ths opinion of this Department, under the faots etatod,~thntth4 Texas Liquor Control hot does not &ve the Tokas~Liquor Control - Board tho authority tc replace the lost etamps In quostlon.~
'ice are returning herewith the several Instruments roforrsd to hor41nabcvor
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