County of San Diego v. Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board

In this petition for writ of review the County of San Diego (County) and Robert Coffin (together Petitioners) challenge the assignment of Administrative Law Judge Rodolfo Echeverría (ALJ Echeverría) by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (Department) to conduct the administrative hearing on their protests against a liquor license application by Barena Valley Ranch & Casino (Barena).

We conclude that the Department did not proceed in a manner contrary to law or in excess of its jurisdiction when it directed ALJ Echeverría, who is not a judge with the Office of Administrative Hearings, to hear and decide the protests at issue in this case because Business and Professions Code section 24210 authorized the Department to employ its own administrative law judges for the purpose of conducting all hearings under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 23000; undesignated statutory references are to this code.) We also conclude that ALJ Echeverría properly denied Coffin’s peremptory challenge, and was not required to unilaterally disqualify himself from hearing the matter.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 2004, ALJ Echeverría issued a proposed…