STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

BRUCE F. EGGETT AND TIMOTHY R. ) MILLER, D/B/A THE FOUNTAIN BLUE, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 80-1503

) STATE OF FLORIDA, DIVISION OF ) ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND TOBACCO, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held before Charles C. Adams, a Hearing Officer with the Division of Administrative Hearings, on September 8, 1980.

This hearing was conducted in Room 16, Daniel T. McCarty Building, 941 West Morse Boulevard, Winter Park, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Bruce F. Eggett and No appearance Timothy R. Miller

c/o The Fountain Blue

2709 South Orange Blossom Trail Orlando, Florida 32805

For Respondent: James N. Watson, Jr., Esquire

Department of Business Regulation 725 South Bronough Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

ISSUE

The issue presented concerns the entitlement of the named Petitioners to he granted a new Series 2-COP beverage license from the Respondent, in the face of a disapproval letter entered by the Director of the State of Florida, Division of Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Bruce F. Eggett and Timothy R. Miller, the named Petitioners in this cause, have made application for the issuance of a new Series 2-COP beverage license. This application has been made with the Respondent, State of Florida, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco and in response to this request the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco wrote the Petitioners on July 10, 1980, and in the course of that correspondence indicated his intent to deny the license application. The stated ground for denial was that "one of the applicants convicted of felonies within past fifteen years." The stated authority for the denial was Section 561.15, Florida Statutes. 1/

2. The Petitioners did not agree with the decision of the Director and orally requested an administrative hearing in this cause. This request was made with Captain Jack Wallace, Beverage Officer and District Supervisor for the Orlando, Florida, District.

   
   

3. After receiving the oral request, this matter was made known to the legal staff of the Respondent and one of the staff attorneys, acting at the behest of the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, asked the Division of Administrative Hearings to conduct the formal hearing pursuant to Section 120.57(1), Florida Statutes.

   
   

4. The hearing was conducted on September 8, 1980, and although the Petitioners had been duly noticed of the hearing, the Petitioners did not attend nor offer anything in behalf of their request for license.

   
   

5. The Respondent presented copies of the license application request of both Bruce Francis Eggett and Timothy Robert Miller. The application form mentioned here is a personal questionnaire, individually, completed by the Petitioners. (Copies of those personal questionnaires pertaining to Eggett and Miller may be found as the Respondent's Exhibits No.1 and 2 admitted into evidence respectively.)

   
   

6. Question 6 of the questionnaire asks the following: Have you ever been: Arrested for violation of any other law of this state, any other state or the United States? (excluding minor traffic) If answer to any of these questions is yes, list aliases and give full disclosure of charges, dates, arresting agencies and places of arrest." To this question, the Petitioner Eggett marked "yes" and stated (1) 1971 breaking and entering and (2) 1977, delivery of Methaquaalude.

   
   

7. In response to the same question, Petitioner Miller answered that he had been arrested in 1968 for public intoxication and blocking traffic in Canton, Ohio.

   
   

8. No further proof was offered by the Respondent on the question of these arrests and the disposition made of the matters.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

9. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties to this action.

   
   

10. Section 561.15, Florida Statutes, makes it incumbent on the Petitioner who seeks a beverage license and who has been denied that license by action of the Director of the agency, to establish in the course of the hearing that he has good moral character and has reached his majority. Neither Petitioners nor any representative attended the hearing to offer proof directed to the question of their good moral character and although their dates of birth have been established by the Respondent's exhibits, the lack of showing of good moral character, when considered in conjunction with the Eggett personal questionnaire showing involvement in a 1971 breaking and entering case and a 1977 delivery of Methaquaalude, are sufficient basis for the Director to deny their beverage license application. Therefore, the Petitioners are not entitled to the issuance of a new Series 2-COP beverage license.

RECOMMENDATION

It is RECOMMENDED that the Director of the State of Florida, Division of Alcoholic beverage and Tobacco, deny the Petitioners, Bruce F. Eggett's and Timothy P. Miller's request to be granted a new Series 2-COP beverage license.

DONE AND ENTERED this 24th day of September, 1980, in Tallahassee, Florida.

CHARLES C. ADAMS

Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building

1230 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1550

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 24th day of September, 1980.

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 24th day of September, 1980.

ENDNOTE

1/ 561.15 Licenses; qualifications required.

1. Licenses shall be issued only to persons of good moral

   character, who are not less than 18 years of age. Licenses to corporations shall be issued only to corporations whose officers are of good oral character and not less than 18 years of age. There shall be no exceptions from the license taxes herein provided to any person, association of persons or corporation, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

2. No license under the Beverage Law shall he issued to any person who has been convicted within the last past 5 years of any offense against the beverage laws of this state, the United States, or any other state; who has been convicted within the last past 5 years in this state or any other state or the United States of soliciting for prostitution, pandering, letting premises for prostitution, keeping a disorderly place, or illegally dealing in narcotics; or who has been convicted in the last past 15 years of any felony in this state or any other state or the United States; or to a corporation, any of whose officers shall have been so convicted. The term "conviction" shall include an adjudication of guilt on a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or the forfeiture of a bond when charged with a crime.

3. The division may refuse to issue a license under the Beverage Law to any person, firm, or corporation whose license under the Beverage Law has been revoked or to any corporation, an officer of which has had his license under the Beverage Law revoked, or to any person, who is or has been an officer of a corporation whose license has been revoked under the Beverage Law. Any license issued to a person, firm, or corporation prohibited from obtaining such license, under the Beverage Law, may be revoked by the division.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Bruce F. Eggett and Timothy R. Miller and

Timothy R. Miller Bruce F. Eggett

c/o The Fountain Blue 1400 West 17th Street 2709 South Orange Blossom Trail Orlando, Florida 32805 Orlando, Florida 32805

James N. Watson, Jr. Esquire Captain Jack Wallace Department of Business Division of Alcoholic

Regulation Beverages and Tobacco 725 South Bronough Street Post Office Box 17735 Tallahassee, Florida 32301 Orlando, Florida 32860

Docket for Case No: 80-001503

Orders for Case No: 80-001503