Administrative Proceedings
Permit Reviews
Except as indicated, all indented material is copied directly from the court’s opinion.
Decisions of the Tennessee Supreme Court
Decisions of the Tennessee Court of Appeals
Wolfe v. Sugoinsville Beer Board, No. E2022-01605-COA-R3-CV, p. 5 (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 12, 2023).
The procedure for appealing the denial of a beer permit application is the filing of a “statutory writ of certiorari, with a trial de novo as a substitute for an appeal, the petition of certiorari to be addressed to the circuit or chancery court of the county in which any such order was issued.” Tenn. Code Ann. § 57-5-108(d). In the trial de novo, “the cause is tried as if it originated in the circuit or chancery court. . . . The trial judge is required to make an independent judgment on the merits, which . . . results in the trial judge substituting his judgment for that of the beer board . . . .” Cantrell v. DeKalb Cnty. Beer Bd., 376 S.W.2d 480, 482 (Tenn. 1964). In a statutory writ of certiorari, the trial “court may consider both the evidence contained in the administrative record and any additional or supplemental evidence that the parties wish to introduce.” Yafai v. Metro. Beer Permit Bd. of Metro. Gov’t of Nashville Davidson Cnty., No. M2009-00270-COA-R3-CV, 2010 WL 845379, at *3 (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 10, 2010) (citing Cantrell, 376 S.W.2d at 482).
