Orange County v. Costco Wholesale Corp.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Florida upheld Orange County's ordinance prohibiting package liquor stores from locating within 5,000 feet of existing package liquor vendors. The court held that the ordinance was presumptively valid and substantially related to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare, and that Costco had the burden to establish otherwise. The court quashed the Fifth District's decision and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.

Holdings

1. Orange County's 5,000-foot separation requirement is a valid exercise of police power because it bears a substantial relationship to the health, safety, morals, or general welfare of the community and is not so restrictive as to be unconstitutional.
2. The challenger bears the initial burden of showing that a liquor-location restriction lacks a substantial relationship to public health, safety, morals, or welfare; equal-protection principles do not require a county that permits some liquor vendors to permit every proposed vendor to locate within 5,000 feet of another.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Orange County's ordinance prohibiting a new or relocated package-liquor vendor from locating within 5,000 feet of an established package-liquor vendor was a constitutional exercise of the County's police power.
2. Whether the Fifth District improperly shifted the burden to Orange County and reweighed the evidence under a substantial-relationship or equal-protection analysis.

Disposition

quashed