Claiborne Country Club, Inc. v. City of Tazewell
| Decision Date | 15 September 1993 |
| Citation | 872 S.W.2d 685 |
| Parties | CLAIBORNE COUNTRY CLUB, INC., Plaintiff/Appellant, v. CITY OF TAZEWELL, Defendant/Appellee. CITY OF TAZEWELL, Plaintiff/Appellee, v. Earl D. "Doug" MULLINS, Defendant/Appellant. |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Appeals |
Michael G. Hatmaker, Jacksboro, for plaintiff/appellant Claiborne Country Club, Inc. and for defendant/appellant Earl D. "Doug" Mullins.
David H. Stanifer, Stanifer and Stanifer, Tazewell, for defendant/plaintiff/appellee.
Claiborne Country Club, Inc. (Claiborne) sought to enjoin the City of Tazewell (City) from enforcing any statute or ordinance addressing the hours of consumption of alcoholic beverages on its premises. The parties' statements of fact are virtually identical and provide:
Prior to 1966, the Town of Tazewell, Tennessee had in effect an Ordinance regulating the sale and consumption of beer. That Ordinance read, at pertinent part, as follows SECTION 18. HOURS OF SALE. It shall hereinafter be unlawful and it is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor for any person, persons, firm or corporation or association to sell or distribute any of such beverages regulated hereunder, within the corporate limits of the Town of Tazewell between the hours of 12 midnight and 5 A.M. daily and at no time on Sunday. No such beverage shall be consumed or opened for consumption on or about the premises of a permittee in either bottle, glass, or other container after 10:45 P.M.
Thereafter, on February 8, 1966, the Town of Tazewell adopted an Ordinance which amended the above-referenced Ordinance, and which amended Ordinance reads at pertinent part as follows:
SECTION III. That Section 18 be amended to read as follows: It shall hereafter be unlawful and it is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor for any person, persons or firm or corporation or association to sell or distribute any of such beverages regulated hereunder, within the corporate limits of the Town of Tazewell between the hours of 12 midnight and 5 A.M. daily and at no time on Sunday and Christmas Day, also any election day whether City, County, State or National until after the closing of the election polls.
This Ordinance was thereafter codified at Section 2-218 of the Tazewell Municipal Code.
Claiborne Country Club, Inc., Appellant in cause number 6736, has obtained from Tazewell, Appellee, a beer permit which permits Claiborne Country Club to sell malt beverages to its patrons.
Earl D. "Doug" Mullins, a representative of Claiborne Country Club and the Appellant with regard to cause number 6762 was, on March 19, 1990, convicted in the City Court for Tazewell, for "violation of T.C.A. § 57-5-301.". T.C.A. § 57-5-301, at pertinent part, reads as follows:
No alcoholic beverage within the scope hereof shall be sold between twelve (12:00) o'clock midnight and six o'clock (6:00 a.m.). No such beverage shall be sold between twelve (12:00) o'clock midnight on Saturday and eleven fifty-nine o'clock p.m. (11:59 p.m.) on Sunday. No such beverage shall be consumed, or opened for consumption, on or about any premises licensed hereunder in either bottle, glass, or other container, after twelve-fifteen o'clock a.m. (12:15 a.m.). Any county by resolution of the governing body may extend the hours for the sale of beer; provided, however, that the hours for the sale of beer in "clubs" as defined in § 57-4-102, shall conform to those hours for the sale of liquor by the drink as provided in Chapter 4 of this title.
Mullins appealed the City Court's ruling to the Circuit Court.
The cases were consolidated. The trial court issued a memorandum opinion and order adopting the same ruling in favor of the City in both cases and holding that a holder of a beer license in the City of Tazewell cannot sell beer past midnight nor allow beer to be consumed on the premises past 12:15 a.m.
The sole issue as presented by Appellants is:
Did the lower court err in ruling that Section 2-218 of the Tazewell Municipal Code prohibits...
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Martin v. Beer Bd. for City of Dickson
...over the sale of beer. State ex rel. Amvets Post 27 v. Beer Bd., 717 S.W.2d 878, 881 (Tenn.1986); Claiborne Country Club, Inc. v. City of Tazewell, 872 S.W.2d 685, 687 (Tenn.Ct.App.1993). Incorporated cities have greater control over the sale beer than counties. While counties are limited t......
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McClain v. City of Millington, 00-02254
...over the sale of beer. State ex rel. Amvets Post 27 v. Beer Bd., 717 S.W.2d 878, 881 (Tenn. 1986); Claiborne Country Club, Inc. v. City of Tazewell, 872 S.W.2d 685, 687 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1993). Incorporated cities have greater control over the sale of beer than counties. While counties are li......