Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control v. Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board

California Constitution, article XX, section 22, prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages to persons under 21 years of age. (See also Bus. & Prof. Code, § 25658, subd. (a) [making it a misdemeanor to sell alcohol to a person under 21 years of age].) Here, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (Department) issued a 15-day suspension of an off-sale general license held by the Garfield Beach CVS LLC Longs Drug Stores California LLC, doing business as CVS Pharmacy Store 9174 (CVS), after an administrative law judge found the store clerk sold alcohol to a minor decoy. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board (Appeals Board) reversed the suspension based on California Code of Regulations, title 4, section 141 (Rule 141), which allows a law enforcement agency to use an underage decoy only “in a fashion that promotes fairness.” {Id., subd. (a).) In the Appeals Board’s view, the suspension was unfair because the minor decoy did not respond about his age when the store clerk looked at his driver license and remarked, “I would never have guessed it, you must get asked a lot.” To challenge the reversal of the license suspension, the Department petitioned for a writ of…