State ex rel. Bayou Liquors, Inc. v. City of Casper, 94-254

Citation906 P.2d 1046
Decision Date20 November 1995
Docket NumberNo. 94-254,94-254
PartiesSTATE of Wyoming, ex rel., BAYOU LIQUORS, INC., Bi-Rite Package Liquor Store, Bob's Place, Bouzis Bros.', d/b/a Casper Liquor Store and Sandbar Lounge, Broncos Lounge, D's Oregon Trail Bar, Dorn's Fireside, Galles Sales, Inc., d/b/a Galles Liquor Mart, Galloway's Lounge, Hilltop Liquors, Horseshoe Bar, LBM Lounge & Liquor, MCJ, Inc., d/b/a C.Y. Liquors & Josh's Pub, Moonlight Liquors, Inc., My Brother's Place, Oil City Liquors, Paradise Liquors & Lounge, Party-Time, Inc., Sage Industries, d/b/a Sky Blue Lounge, The Shadows, Inc., a/k/a The Wright Place, Sonny's Sports Lounge and Sunshine Liquors, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. The CITY OF CASPER and Luker Development Company, Inc., Appellees (Defendants).
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Wyoming

Les Bowron of Beech Street Law Offices, Casper, for Appellants.

Robert L. Mullen, Casper City Attorney, Casper, for Appellee City of Casper.

Thomas N. Long, H. Frank Gibbard and Paula J. Williams of Thomas N. Long, P.C., Cheyenne, for Appellee Luker Development Co., Inc.

Before GOLDEN, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY, TAYLOR and LEHMAN, JJ.

LEHMAN, Justice.

This case calls for a determination of whether a current liquor license holder has standing to challenge the renewal and transfer of a liquor license to another competitor. Bayou Liquors, Inc. and several other holders of current liquor licenses (hereinafter appellants) challenge the transfer of a liquor license by the City of Casper to Luker Development Company, Inc. (Luker). The district court dismissed the action, concluding that appellants lacked standing.

We reverse.

Appellants do not present a concise statement of the issues, but we can extract a simple, single issue from their brief:

Do appellants have standing to challenge the transfer of a liquor license to a competitor?

Appellee Luker phrases the issue as:

I. Whether the district court properly granted summary judgment for Appellees on the basis that Appellants lacked standing to challenge the renewal of the liquor license of a competing liquor establishment?

A. Whether Appellants have standing to request judicial review of the City of Casper's administrative action?

B. Whether the Wyoming Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act, Wyo.Stat. §§ 1-37-101 et seq. (1988), gives Appellants

standing to challenge the City of Casper's administrative decision?

Appellee City of Casper raises two issues:

1. Whether the district court was correct in granting summary judgment to Appellees based upon a determination that Appellants lack standing to challenge transfer and renewal of a liquor license;

2. If summary judgment was not properly granted on the basis of the Appellants' lack of standing, whether the disposition of the case should be sustained on an alternative theory which appears in the record.

FACTS

The original complaint in this matter was filed on April 14, 1993. After adding Luker as a necessary and indispensable party, appellants, in their Second Amended Complaint, sought a declaratory judgment that the City of Casper had violated numerous state and local laws in renewing and transferring liquor license number 48 to Luker. Appellants alleged violations of the following: W.S. 12-4-102(a)(iv) and (c) (1986); W.S. 12-4-103(a)(v) (1986); W.S. 12-4-601(b) (1986); Casper City Ordinances Chapter 5.08.050(A), (B) and (C); City of Casper Resolution 81-9; and common law duty, Sterner v. United States, 774 P.2d 639, 644 (Wyo.1989).

After a hearing on motions for summary judgment, the district court granted appellees' motion concluding that, as competitors, appellants were not one of the parties identified by our decision in Walker v. Board of County Comm'rs, 644 P.2d 772 (Wyo.1982) as having standing to challenge actions of licensing authorities that issue or renew retail liquor licenses. The district court entered an order on July 25, 1994, granting appellees' motion for summary judgment, and appellants now appeal.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

A party is granted summary judgment if there are no genuine issues of material fact and they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. W.R.C.P. 56; Dubray v. Howshar, 884 P.2d 23, 25 (Wyo.1994). Our review is conducted in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, and no deference is accorded to the district court's decisions on issues of law. Harbel v. Wintermute, 883 P.2d 359, 362 (Wyo.1994). We use the same factual materials and the same standards as the district court in our review and may affirm the summary judgment on any legal grounds appearing in the record. Id.

DISCUSSION

The concept of "standing to sue" refers to a right to relief that goes to the existence of a personal claim for relief. Matter of Various Water Rights in Lake DeSmet Reservoir, 623 P.2d 764, 767 (Wyo.1981).

The doctrine of standing is a jurisprudential rule of jurisdictional magnitude. At its most elementary level, the standing doctrine holds that a decision-making body should refrain from considering issues in which the litigants have little or no interest in vigorously advocating. Washakie Co. Sch. Dist. No. One v. Herschler, 606 P.2d 310, 317 (Wyo.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 824, 101 S.Ct. 86, 66 L.Ed.2d 28. Accordingly, the doctrine of standing focuses upon whether a litigant is properly situated to assert an issue for judicial or quasi-judicial determination. Laramie Rivers Co. v. Wheatland Irr. Dist., 708 P.2d 20, 27 (Wyo.1985). A litigant is said to have standing when he has a "personal stake in the outcome of the controversy." This personal stake requirement has been described in Wyoming as a "tangible interest" at stake. The tangible interest requirement guarantees that a litigant is sufficiently interested in a case to present a justiciable controversy. Laramie Rivers, 708 P.2d at 27 (quoting Int'l Ass'n Fire Fighters v. Civil Serv. Comm'n, 702 P.2d 1294, 1297-98 (Wyo.1985)).

Schulthess v. Carollo, 832 P.2d 552, 556-57 (Wyo.1992).

Appellants claim standing based on two theories. First, they claim that they have standing under this court's decision in Walker v. Board of County Comm'rs, 644 P.2d 772 (Wyo.1982) as citizens or residents and taxpayers of Casper. Second, appellants also claim standing by virtue of their being competitors of Luker. Luker counters that appellants In Walker, we confronted the issue of who has standing to seek a hearing and judicial review of a decision to issue a liquor license under the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act (APA), W.S. 16-3-101, et seq. 644 P.2d at 774. We held that:

do not have standing under either theory. Essentially, Luker's argument is that Walker provides the exclusive list of who has standing to challenge the issuance or renewal of a liquor license and appellants do not fit within any of the identified groups given standing in that case. Furthermore, Luker claims that standing, based on a status of being a competitor, is not available because the only interest such a party would have would be impermissible--i.e., a desire to restrain competition. For the same reason, Luker asserts that appellants cannot have standing as residents since their impermissible motive gives them "unclean hands."

[A] right to a hearing pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act with resulting judicial review in matters pertaining to the issuance or renewal of a retail liquor license exists only (1) to those people and residents referred to in § 12-4-104(b)(i) and (iv) for the purposes there set forth; and (2) to matters involving revocation or suspension of such licenses by the Wyoming Liquor Commission pursuant to § 12-7-201(d), W.S.1977.

644 P.2d at 775. Since neither Walker nor this case involves the second situation, the relevant statute is W.S. 12-4-104(b) (1986 Rpl.), subsections (i) and (iv), which provides in relevant part:

A license or permit shall not be issued, renewed or transferred if the licensing authority finds from evidence presented at the hearing:

(i) The welfare of the people residing in the vicinity of the proposed license or permit premises shall be adversely and seriously affected;

* * * * * *

(iv) The desires of the residents of the county, city or town will not be met or satisfied by the issuance, renewal or transfer of the license or permit[.]

Thus, according to Walker, the only parties who have standing to challenge, in a hearing with resulting judicial review, the issuance or renewal of a retail liquor license are: (1) people residing in the vicinity of the proposed license or permit premises who claim that their welfare will be adversely and seriously affected; and (2) residents of the county, city or town who claim that their desires will not be met. 1

At first blush it is easy to distinguish Walker from this case. Walker, as we have already pointed out, involved actions seeking a hearing and judicial review under the Wyoming APA. However, in this case, appellants' cause of action is for declaratory judgment, not review under the APA. Indeed, appellants could not proceed pursuant to the APA even if they so desired since the City of Casper is not subject to the act. See Foster's Inc. v. City of Laramie, 718 P.2d 868, 872 (Wyo.1986). Since cities are not agencies within the meaning of the APA and administrative decisions by the city council are not reviewable under the act, id., it would appear that we are not constrained by the holding in Walker and could find standing in parties not identified in that case.

We conclude, however, that the better result is to apply Walker's standing requirements to both APA and non-APA reviews of cases involving the issuance or renewal of retail liquor licenses. Our decision is based upon considerations of uniformity. While the governing bodies of cities are not agencies under the APA, county boards of commissioners, which are also licensing authorities We must now decide if appellants have standing as residents, a group recognized as having such in Walker. W.S. 12-4-104(b)(iv). We conclude...

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