Canada - Bar with Hells Angels association wins licence appeal

OFF THE WIRE
Gerry Bellett
 vancouversun.com
http://www.blogger.com/goog_1560876857


Kelowna nightclub's right to serve liquor was suspended after building was transferred to a company with links to Hells angels member
The owner of a Kelowna nightclub whose liquor licence was cancelled after a member of the Hells Angels became associated with its operation has won the right to appeal the decision.
The Liquor Control and Licensing Branch had suspended the liquor licence of Club Med on Lawrence Avenue in October 2009, causing the nightclub to shut down, with the loss of 30 jobs.
The suspension was the result of a complex business arrangement involving the nightclub and the property on which it stands being sold by home builder David Habib to a company owned by Tony Raffele in the fall of 2005.
The sale of the nightclub was conditional on the licensing branch approving the transfer of the liquor licence to Raffele's company.
But the branch delayed approving the transfer for four years and allowed the nightclub to continue operating with the licence remaining with Habib's company until it was suspended in 2009.
According to documents presented in B.C. Supreme Court, the issue at the heart of the dispute was the fact that the building was sold to a company called Liquid Zoo, of which Raffele was a director, as was Damiano Dipopolo, a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, which Justice David Masuhara described as a criminal organization.
The club's owners attempted to show that Dipopolo had given up his interest in Liquid Zoo but the branch maintained this had not been shown to its satisfaction.
The licence expired April 30, 2010.
Habib, who said he maintained a business interest in the nightclub, applied for another licence.
But in May 2010, the branch decided he had not provided sufficient evidence that he had a valid interest in the business, so the licence would not be renewed.
Habib sought a judicial review of the decision.
Masuhara found that "fairness considerations warranted the need for an oral hearing."
He set aside the branch's cancellation and renewal decisions.
gbellett@vancouversun.com
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