White Goss Bowers March Schulte & Weisenfels

Competitors Lack Standing to Challenge Issuance of Liquor License

The old saying, "for every wrong there is a remedy" isn't always true in the law. It could be modified by the addition of the words: "if the wrong is challenged by the proper person." In June 2011, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, handed down State ex rel. St. Louis retail group v. Krailberg. http://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=47507 In this case the plaintiff challenged the issuance of a package liquor license to convenience store. The court found this was a contested case under the Administrative Procedures Act because a hearing was required before the license could issue. That being the case, the court held that the plaintiff lacked standing to challenge the issuance of the license, since under chapter 536 R.S.Mo., only an aggrieved person can challenge a decision resulting from a contested case. The group was aggrieved only in the sense that it would have further competition, which was not sufficient to confer legal standing. The court also noted that none of the members of the group were located within the 350 foot distance from the licensed premises entitled to receive notice of the hearing, nor in the neighborhood in question.