SNOW HILL – The legal dispute surrounding a Pocomoke liquor license continues in advance of a November court date.
While a Worcester County Circuit Court hearing is set for Nov. 29, legal wrangling surrounding the appeal of a June decision by the Worcester County Board of License Commissioners (BLC) is ongoing. Several court documents have been filed as Janki Patel’s appeal of the BLC decision to grant a liquor license to Shore Spirits in Pocomoke moves ahead.
Patel, represented by attorney Hugh Cropper, was one of several people who opposed the request for a beer, wine and liquor license made in May by attorney Mark Cropper, whose client, Kalpesh Patel, had agreed to purchase the Worcester County-owned Shore Spirits in Pocomoke. Mark Cropper said his client simply wanted to take over the county store, which opened in 2007, and add beer to its existing wine and liquor inventory.
Hugh Cropper, representing the nearby beer and wine store Newtown Market, introduced a number of Pocomoke area residents, including the town’s mayor, who said they were opposed to Shore Spirits’ license application. They said residents were able to purchase liquor at nearby Don’s Seafood and that the small town wouldn’t be able to support two stores – Newtown Market and Shore Spirits – with such similar inventory in the same shopping center. Hugh Cropper also acknowledged that clients purchased Newtown Market with the intention of adding liquor to its inventory.
A month after hearing the testimony, members of the board of license commissioners voted 3-0 to grant Shore Spirits a beer wine and liquor license. Two days later, Hugh Cropper filed an appeal of the decision in Worcester County Circuit Court. In the accompanying documents, Cropper said the license had been issued against the public interest and that the board’s decision was unreasonable and illegal.
Various motions and responses have been filed since. Last month, Mark Cropper filed a joint motion to supplement the record on behalf of his client, the Worcester County Commissioners and the BLC. It disputes Hugh Cropper’s argument that the signatures submitted in support of Kalpesh Patel’s license application were “legally insufficient” and “legally deficient” because the individuals who signed had only just met Patel.
The joint motion states that Janki Patel’s own license application, submitted when she purchased Newtown Market, was signed by people who had just met her.
“Petitioner sought from the board a denial of the application based upon the exact same circumstances under which she obtained her own license which gave her standing to participate at the hearing and to file this appeal,” the motion reads.
The motion also seeks to supplement the record with a copy of Newtown Market’s July application to upgrade its beer and wine license to a beer, wine and liquor license.
“The filing of the request for the upgrade by petitioner proves that she believes such a need does in fact exist or no such request would have been made,” the motion reads.
On Oct. 13, Hugh Cropper filed opposition to the motion. That opposition references the requirement that liquor license applications are to be accompanied by signatures of at least 10 residents that “have examined the application, have good reason to believe that the statements contained in the application are true, and in their judgement the applicant is a suitable person to obtain a license.” He argues that it “defies logic and common sense” that a person could certify the character of a liquor license applicant if they’ve only just met the individual.
The latest filing goes on to argue that supplementing the record with the signatures in support of Newtown Market’s initial liquor license application as well as its recent request for an upgrade is irrelevant.
“Information with respect to ‘what she believes’ is completely irrelevant,” the document reads. “This appeal involves the legal sufficiency of the respondents’ application and not whether a sufficient need existed such that the board could make that finding.”
The appeal is currently scheduled to be heard Nov. 29 in Worcester County Circuit Court. Because Kalpesh Patel’s agreement to purchase of Shore Spirits is contingent upon his receipt of a liquor license, the sale of the store has been delayed.
“The county is not completely out of the liquor business yet,” Worcester County Commissioner Joe Mitrecic told Ocean City officials during an update this week. “Basically, what has happened is there is the liquor store on one end of the shopping center and a beer and wine store on the other end of the shopping center. The beer and wine store owner is fighting the fact the liquor store purchasers are getting a beer-wine-liquor license. Until then, the county is running that store to keep it up and keep it viable.”
While the appeal has delayed the county’s plans to get out of the liquor business entirely, Mitrecic said the fact that the county had liquidated the majority of its operations already had a significant effect. The Department of Liquor Control suffered substantial losses in recent years.
