Greenwood v Milina [2010] NZLLA 231 (19 March 2010)

Last Updated: 1 April 2010

Decision No.PH 231/2010

IN THE MATTER of the Sale of Liquor Act 1989

AND

IN THE MATTER of an application pursuant to s.135 of the Act for suspension of General Manager's Certificate number GM/14007/07 issued to LIZA SHARON MILINA

BETWEEN CHRISTOPHER RON GREENWOOD

(Police Officer of Te Awamutu)

Applicant

AND LIZA SHARON MILINA

Respondent

BEFORE THE LIQUOR LICENSING AUTHORITY

Chairman: District Court Judge J D Hole
Member: Mr P M McHaffie

HEARING at HAMILTON on 11 March 2010

APPEARANCES

Sergeant C R Greenwood - NZ Police - applicant
Miss L S Milina - respondent

ORAL DECISION OF THE AUTHORITY

[1] This decision relates to an application dated 24 November 2009 pursuant to s.135 of the Act for the suspension of General Manager's Certificate number GM/14007/07 issued to Liza Sharon Milina.
[2] Ms Milina has held a General Manager's Certificate since 2007. Together with her business partner, David McCue, she is the owner of two bars, namely “The Commercial Hotel” at Te Awamutu and “Paddys Bar” at Kumeu.
[3] On 18 September 2009 the Police passed “The Commercial Hotel” and observed about 20 people standing outside the main doors of the hotel. Some of those were seen to be holding handles of beer and bottles of alcohol. This part of Te Awamutu is designated a liquor ban area and accordingly those people should not have been in possession of liquor outside “The Commercial Hotel”. This occurred at approximately 11.40 pm.
[4] The Police went into the hotel where there were between 30 and 40 patrons drinking and playing pool. Two women were working behind the bar and one of those women was the respondent. She was the duty manager. It was difficult to ascertain this as the writing on the whiteboard, which indicated the duty manager’s name, was virtually illegible.
[5] Upon investigation it was plain that the respondent had been drinking and ultimately she was asked to undergo a breath screening test, which she did. That test indicated a result of fail general. If she had been driving a motor vehicle she would have been over the legal breath alcohol limit. It was clear that she was intoxicated.
[6] On 25 October 2009 the respondent was stopped while driving a motor vehicle in Helensville. It is alleged that she had an alcohol reading of 1405 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. She told the Authority that she is defending that matter and in those circumstances it is not proper for the Authority to take that matter into account at this stage in this application.
[7] By being intoxicated whilst acting as a duty manager clearly indicates to the Authority that the respondent failed to conduct the licensed premises in a proper manner. Further, allowing patrons to take alcohol outside the premises also indicates a failure to conduct the licensed premises in a proper manner. Thus the grounds on which the application has been made are made out.
[8] The next issue for the Authority is whether or not it is desirable to suspend the certificate. The Authority has reached the conclusion that the General Manager's Certificate should be suspended for a period of 21 days. This is significantly less than would normally be the case given the conduct to which we have already referred. In 2008 the respondent’s partner sustained a very severe illness and was not expected to live. Since then he has been severely incapacitated and there is no doubt at all that the respondent has had difficulties not only in dealing with this problem but in addition supporting a 12 year old child and looking after both of the bars.
[9] The respondent has been particularly frank in what she has told the Authority today. She explained how she became intoxicated in the following way. She said that she was acting as the duty manager at the bar until about 11.00 pm. As the bar was quiet she left the bar to go upstairs to sleep. As she was having difficulty in sleeping she drank a bottle of wine and took some valium. She went to sleep. Then unexpectedly a large group of people arrived so she went downstairs to help out at the bar and it was then that she was observed by the Police as being intoxicated.
[10] In giving this explanation the respondent informed the Authority of a fact that the Authority did not previously know, namely that she had left the bar while she was acting as the duty manager. The respondent did not have to tell the Authority about this but she chose to do so so that all the facts were made available to the Authority. The Authority is impressed with her candour.
[11] Since this incident, and it seems that there was only one incident, the respondent has taken appropriate steps to prevent a similar incident occurring in the future. She has enrolled with CADS and is undertaking both group and individual counselling with that organisation. The counselling not only covers alcohol abuse problems but also stress and anxiety difficulties, which she has experienced.
[12] The respondent said that she has only partaken of one alcoholic drink since 26 November 2009. She says that the people at CADS are happy with her and she feels she is in a better frame of mind than she was previously.
[13] It is clear that the respondent has significant support to help her should she experience difficulties in the future. She has a mother and father who live close to her. In addition she has a sister and a brother, both of whom are available to assist her should this be necessary.
[14] The conclusion that the Authority has reached is that because of the nature of the misconduct namely, being intoxicated whilst acting as a duty manager, it is desirable that the certificate should be suspended. Given this is a first incident affecting the respondent normally the period of suspension would be somewhere between one month and six weeks. However because of the various mitigating matters to which we have already referred, the Authority considers that in this case a suspension for 21 days is adequate. The period of suspension commences on Wednesday 7 April 2010.

DATED at WELLINGTON this 19TH day of March 2010

B M Holmes
Deputy Secretary

Liza Milina.doc(aw)