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2010AP2900 Wisconsin Dolls, LLC, v. Town of Dell Prairie

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//September 1, 2011//

2010AP2900 Wisconsin Dolls, LLC, v. Town of Dell Prairie

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//September 1, 2011//

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Municipalities
Liquor licenses

A liquor license allowing the sale of alcohol on all 8 acres of a property violates Chapter 125.

“The statutory provision requiring posting of the license supports our interpretation. Wisconsin Stat. § 125.04(1)(a) and (b) require that a license issued for the sale of alcohol must be ‘conspicuously displayed for public inspection at all times in the room or place where the activity subject to the … licensure is carried on’ (emphasis added). This provision indicates that the activity subject to licensure occurs in a specific place. This provision cannot be reconciled with Wisconsin Dolls’ view that a license may give it the authority to carry on licensed activity anywhere on the eight acres of its property.”

“Our interpretation is also supported by our reasoning in Alberti v. City of Whitewater, 109 Wis. 2d 592, 327 N.W.2d 150 (Ct. App. 1982). The issue presented there was whether a licensee, during the license year, could unilaterally expand the size of the licensed premises as long as the expanded area was connected to the premises on which the license permitted the sale of alcohol. Id. at 597-98. In resolving this issue against the licensee, we construed Wis. Stat. § 125.04(3)(h), which requires licensees to notify the issuing authority of a change in any fact set out in the application for a license within ten days of the change. We viewed this provision in the context of the entire statutory scheme, which gives the municipality the power to control the grant, transfer, revocation, and renewal of licenses, and provides for notification to the public at certain points in the process. Id. at 599-600. We concluded that, in light of the statutory scheme and the broad power of the government to regulate the liquor traffic industry, the purpose of Wis. Stat. § 125.04(3)(h) was to ‘facilitate monitoring of ongoing liquor sales by the government and the public.’ Id. at 599. It would be inconsistent with that purpose and unreasonable, we held, to confer unilateral power on the licensee to expand the size of the licensed premises during the license year. Id. at 601.”

Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2010AP2900 Wisconsin Dolls, LLC, v. Town of Dell Prairie

Dist. IV, Adams County, Pollex, J., Vergeront, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Tibbetts, Margery M., Janesville; Fleming, Matthew, Madison; For Respondent: Hazelbaker, Mark, Madison

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