Licence Tribunal
Appeal d'appel en
Tribunal matière de permis
2015-06-23
FILE:
9298/AGRPPA
CASE NAME:
9298 v. Registrar of Alcohol and Gaming
Appeal from an Order of Monetary Penalty of the Registrar of Alcohol and Gaming under the Alcohol and Gaming Regulation and Public Protection Act, 1996, S.O. 1996, c. 26
Orlando Monteith
Appellant
-and-
Registrar of Alcohol and Gaming
Respondent
REASONS FOR DECISION AND ORDER
ADJUDICATOR:
D. Gregory Flude, Vice-Chair
APPEARANCES:
For the Appellant:
No-one appearing
For the Respondent:
Aviva Harari, Counsel
Heard in Toronto:
May 25, 2015
REASONS FOR DECISION AND ORDER
1The Appellant, Orlando Monteith, appeals Order of Monetary Penalty # 101 in the amount of $3,000.00 issued pursuant to the provisions of the Alcohol and Gaming Regulation and Public Protection Act, 1996, S.O. 1996, c. 26 (the “Act”). There are six allegations against the Appellant arising out of three inspections conducted on premises for which the Appellant was responsible pursuant to the provisions of three Special Occasion Permits (SOP). The allegations are similar with respect to each of the three SOPs: on each occasion the Appellant failed to clear signs of service by 2:45 a.m. and the Appellant permitted consumption of a controlled substance on the premises. S. 14.1(7) of the Act directs the Tribunal to determine if, on a balance of probabilities, the alleged infractions occurred. If the Tribunal finds that they did, it has no discretion to alter the amount of the monetary penalty.
2The Appellant was not in attendance at the scheduled starting time of 9:30 a.m. The Tribunal delayed the commencement of the hearing until 10:00 a.m. to give him time to attend or to contact the Tribunal and explain his absence. The Appellant neither appeared nor contacted the Tribunal. The Tribunal noted that the hearing dates had been set in consultation with the Appellant and Registrar at a pre-hearing conference in February, 2015 as evidenced by the Pre-Hearing Order. Having satisfied itself that the Appellant had notice of the time and place for the hearing and there was no explanation for his non-attendance, the Tribunal proceeded with the hearing in his absence.
3The Tribunal heard from two witnesses on behalf of the Registrar, Rebecca Castillo, the Manager of Licence Eligibility and Devin Sookdeo, a Senior Inspector. Mr. Castillo testified that the Appellant had applied for and been granted an SOP on three separate occasions in the summer of 2014: July 26, August 15 and August 16. All permits lasted from 8:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. the next morning. The first SOP was in the name of a charity of which the Appellant is the president and the other two were in the Appellant’s own name. The Appellant was the person responsible for compliance in the first SOP.
4Inspector Sookdeo attended at the premises where the special occasions were being held, the Blue Diamond Banquet Hall, in and around 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. on each of the mornings of July 27, August 16 and August 17. He noted that patrons were still in possession of alcoholic drinks in plastic cups. He was able to sniff the contents of the cups and confirm that the contents were either beer of mixed drinks. There were bottles of Bacardi Breeze, Hennessey Cognac and on the last occasion, Heineken beer was spread around the space. The governing legislation requires service of alcohol to cease at 2:00 a.m. and all signs of service to be removed by 2:45 a.m.
5At each inspection, Mr. Sookdeo observed a male openly smoking marijuana. He was able to identify that the male was smoking marijuana from the smell of the smoke, something he has been trained to do. On one occasion, the Appellant walked past the smoker without taking action and on a second occasion, the smoker was standing next to a security person and, again, no action was taken.
6Based on the evidence above, the Tribunal finds that the Registrar has proven the allegations in the Order of Monetary Penalty on a balance of probabilities.
ORDER
7Pursuant to the authority vested in it by the provisions of s. 14.1(7) of the Act, the Tribunal confirms Order for Monetary Penalty # 101 dated November 6, 2014 in the amount of $3,000.00.
LICENCE APPEAL TRIBUNAL
D. Gregory Flude, Vice-Chair
Released: June 23, 2015