Cavallaro 556 Valley Street Corporation v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control

351 N.J. Super. 33, 796 A.2d 938 (App. Div. 2002)

Opinion Date: May 16, 2002
Business Law
E-Mail

LIQUOR LICENSES— After the deadline for applying for a license renewal has passed, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control has no discretion to extend the time for filing.

In New Jersey, liquor licenses are valid for one year beginning on July 1 and expiring on June 30 of the following year. A license holder must renew the liquor license prior to the end of the license term. The statute grants a license holder a thirty day grace period to file a renewal application. If a license holder fails to file a renewal application within the grace period, it may submit an application for a new license until September 28. However, the municipal authority may not issue a new license unless the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control approves the application. To approve a late application, the Division must determine that the failure to apply for the license renewal was due to circumstances beyond the applicant’s control. A restaurant owner failed both to renew his liquor license by July 30 and to apply for a new one by September 28. He then sought relief from the Division. The owner claimed that he was unable to apply for a renewal application in a timely fashion, because of his father’s illness and his own work related disability. When the Division rejected his application, the owner appealed. The Appellate Division found that the Division had no authority to extend the application deadline beyond September 28. To do so, the Court considered whether the September 28 statutory deadline set in the statute was mandatory or discretionary. If the deadline was mandatory, the Division had no authority to approve any application made after the deadline passed; if the deadline was discretionary, the Division could approve the application even though the deadline passed. The Court noted that the statutory scheme was crafted to establish an orderly process for the timely renewal of liquor licenses. Allowing extension of the application deadline would defeat the regulators’ ability to control the number of licenses and would make the time frames set in the statute less meaningful. Therefore, the Court held that the deadline was mandatory.

Case Law Summaries