By Ben Solis
Gongwer News Service
The head of a company that brokers, facilitates and offers consultation services for the transfer, purchase and sale of Michigan liquor licenses recently sued the state’s Liquor Control Commission alleging discrimination against his business practices.
The lawsuit, Dornbos v. LCC (COC Docket No. 25-000011), also accuses the commissions of discriminating against him due to “personal dislike and animus toward him personally,” resulting in what alleged were flagrant violations of his right to due process and equal protection of a transfer request before the Liquor Control Commission.
“As of this year, SLD Realty has been involved in more than 2100 Michigan liquor license transactions. Rather than laud Dornbos for all the work that he has done to help members of the public navigate the rather Byzantine process of securing a liquor license, persons in positions of influence and authority with the LCC have developed a resentment towards Mr. Dornbos for reasons unknown,” the lawsuit said. “This has been made clear through disparaging comments that various commissioners have made on the record.”
The lawsuit notes several occasions where Liquor Control Commission leaders or staff allegedly disparaged Dornbos. The plaintiff also states that there were no complaints or allegations before the commission regarding the transactions.
The complaint does include a quote from an assistant attorney general during a liquor license transfer request – which Dornbos was not a party to – in which the state attorney described the business as exhibiting a pattern of deceit by shuffling licenses around.
“It is worth nothing that this seems to follow a pattern of what the Commission has seen in other similar transactions wherein Mr. Dornbos has been involved and I believe he is involved in this particular matter, as well,” Assistant Attorney General Jason Geissler is quoted saying in the lawsuit. “But essentially, that pattern is one in which they take one license and swap it out with another license and then Mr. Dornbos does whatever he does with that 550 license and finds somebody else to buy that, so kind of shuffling the licenses around. And the reason I bring it up to you is just because we have seen this on prior occasions and I know that in many instances, there have been issues with the application paperwork because Mr. Dornbos seems to take that on himself and might not know enough to handle it without error.”
Dornbos said those comments were inaccurate and a vast majority of Liquor Control Commission licenses end up with an initial deficiency notice, asserting that errors and deficiencies typically occur whether he was involved in the transactions or otherwise.
One of the main matters at issue in the lawsuit is a license that was not renewed by a restaurant that resulted in a Department of Treasury levy against the establishment’s license. He claims he paid the $14,000 levy and tried to renew the license, but alleges the Liquor Control Commission denied the renewal request specifically because he was involved.
Another transaction involving a nightclub in which Dornbos gained a security stake in, which was caught serving liquor without a license, came before the commission on an appeal that was denied. Dornbos said that, too, was a situation where the commission acted in a discriminatory way toward him.
The plaintiff asked for significant monetary damages from the state’s actions, and although the did not list a direct demand, the plaintiff has estimated the resale value of the license in at least one of the cases to be more than $120,000.
Gongwer News Service
The head of a company that brokers, facilitates and offers consultation services for the transfer, purchase and sale of Michigan liquor licenses recently sued the state’s Liquor Control Commission alleging discrimination against his business practices.
The lawsuit, Dornbos v. LCC (COC Docket No. 25-000011), also accuses the commissions of discriminating against him due to “personal dislike and animus toward him personally,” resulting in what alleged were flagrant violations of his right to due process and equal protection of a transfer request before the Liquor Control Commission.
“As of this year, SLD Realty has been involved in more than 2100 Michigan liquor license transactions. Rather than laud Dornbos for all the work that he has done to help members of the public navigate the rather Byzantine process of securing a liquor license, persons in positions of influence and authority with the LCC have developed a resentment towards Mr. Dornbos for reasons unknown,” the lawsuit said. “This has been made clear through disparaging comments that various commissioners have made on the record.”
The lawsuit notes several occasions where Liquor Control Commission leaders or staff allegedly disparaged Dornbos. The plaintiff also states that there were no complaints or allegations before the commission regarding the transactions.
The complaint does include a quote from an assistant attorney general during a liquor license transfer request – which Dornbos was not a party to – in which the state attorney described the business as exhibiting a pattern of deceit by shuffling licenses around.
“It is worth nothing that this seems to follow a pattern of what the Commission has seen in other similar transactions wherein Mr. Dornbos has been involved and I believe he is involved in this particular matter, as well,” Assistant Attorney General Jason Geissler is quoted saying in the lawsuit. “But essentially, that pattern is one in which they take one license and swap it out with another license and then Mr. Dornbos does whatever he does with that 550 license and finds somebody else to buy that, so kind of shuffling the licenses around. And the reason I bring it up to you is just because we have seen this on prior occasions and I know that in many instances, there have been issues with the application paperwork because Mr. Dornbos seems to take that on himself and might not know enough to handle it without error.”
Dornbos said those comments were inaccurate and a vast majority of Liquor Control Commission licenses end up with an initial deficiency notice, asserting that errors and deficiencies typically occur whether he was involved in the transactions or otherwise.
One of the main matters at issue in the lawsuit is a license that was not renewed by a restaurant that resulted in a Department of Treasury levy against the establishment’s license. He claims he paid the $14,000 levy and tried to renew the license, but alleges the Liquor Control Commission denied the renewal request specifically because he was involved.
Another transaction involving a nightclub in which Dornbos gained a security stake in, which was caught serving liquor without a license, came before the commission on an appeal that was denied. Dornbos said that, too, was a situation where the commission acted in a discriminatory way toward him.
The plaintiff asked for significant monetary damages from the state’s actions, and although the did not list a direct demand, the plaintiff has estimated the resale value of the license in at least one of the cases to be more than $120,000.
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