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It is not surprising that in Maryland the determination as to whether the liquor license is owned by the individual applicants, or by a corporation that operates the business, depends on the circumstances of the particular case.

That said, Maryland law has been and continues to be that liquor licenses issued to individuals for the use of a corporation, which is the most common situation, are owned by the corporation.

The Baltimore County alcoholic beverage license that was the subject of the court challenge in 2001, in the widely discussed case of Rosedale Plaza Limited Partnership v. Lefta, Inc., et al., over who owned the license read, in pertinent part:

THIS IS TO CERTIFY, that Andreas Pitsos, Maria Papadimitriou, Irene A. Pitsos, Lefta, Inc., t/a Hillbrook Station Raw Bar & Grill/Chesaco Liquors, 1703–09–11 Chesaco Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21237 is licensed by the State of Maryland to keep for sale, and to sell all alcoholic beverages at retail at the place herein described, for consumption on the premises or elsewhere.

In that case and despite a statute (.. that no longer exists), then Article 2B Section 9-101(a), which provided in pertinent part:

License issued to individuals; application for partnership.—A license may not be issued to a partnership, to a corporation, or to a limited liability company, but only to individuals authorized to act for a partnership, corporation, or limited liability company who shall assume all responsibilities as individuals, and be subject to all of the penalties, conditions and restrictions imposed upon licensees ..

The appellate court found that liquor license was owned by the corporation. And that has been Maryland law.

Note, Maryland is a minority jurisdiction in this regard and most other states hold to the contrary. But at least 38 states have a Dram Shop Act (but not Maryland) which raises the stakes on who is strictly liable to anyone injured by a drunken patron.

Consistent with the decision is Lefta, in another instance, the Court of Appeals held that a state tax lien of a corporation could be enforced by a writ of execution upon a liquor license issued for the benefit of that corporation. Similarly, in another case, the Court of Appeals accepted that a writ of execution that had been entered against the liquor license to satisfy a personal debt of the licensee arising from his divorce would be improper if the license was owned by a corporation.

Subsequent to all of that and if it were not already clear how Maryland courts will addresses this issue, there are now new sections Maryland Alcoholic Beverages Article of the Annotated Code (the recodified Article 2B), specifically entitled,

Section 4-103 Application on Behalf of Partnership

Section 4-104 Application on Behalf of Corporation or Club

Section 4-105 Application on Behalf of Limited Liability Company

While the current codes expressly provides, “[T]his section is new language derived without substantive change from the second sentence of former Art. 2B, § 9-101(a)(1) and the second sentence of (b)(2), as it related to partnerships,“ .. it is a substantive change in the statute to be consistent with the accepted interpretation.

None of this precludes an individual from doing business in his own name, as a sole proprietorship, and having the liquor license is his name.

There is now no question in Maryland liquor licenses issued to individuals for the use of a partnership, a corporation or an LLC, are owned by the that legal entity and, absent some express agreement to the contrary, the persons named on the liquor license as a licensees have no individual ownership interest in the liquor license.