Kozal v. Nebraska Liquor Control Comm.

Summary

The Nebraska Supreme Court held that citizen objectors in a Nebraska Liquor Control Commission licensing proceeding were parties of record who had to be included in a petition for review under the Administrative Procedure Act. Because the retailers failed to include those parties, the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, making its order void. The Supreme Court vacated the district court’s order and dismissed the appeal without reaching the merits of the liquor-license dispute.

Holdings

1. Citizen objectors who formally object to a retail liquor-license application and participate as parties in the Commission's contested proceeding are parties of record under the Nebraska Liquor Control Act and the APA.
2. The failure to make every party of record in the agency proceeding a party to the APA review proceeding is a failure to seek review in the statutory mode and manner and deprives the district court of subject matter jurisdiction.
3. Because the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, its order was void and the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to reach the merits of the appeal; the Supreme Court could nevertheless vacate the void order and dismiss the appeal.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the citizen objectors were parties of record in the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission's liquor-license renewal proceeding.
2. Whether the retailers' failure to include the citizen objectors in the APA review proceeding deprived the Lancaster County District Court of subject matter jurisdiction.
3. Whether the Nebraska Supreme Court had jurisdiction over the appeal from the district court's order.

Disposition

vacated