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REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 0984 September Term, 2011

YIM, LLC ET AL. v. M. HASIP TUZEER ET AL.

Meredith, Woodward, Zarnoch, JJ.

Opinion by Zarnoch, J.

Filed: February 28, 2013

STATEMENT OF THE CASE This case concerns a long-running dispute between a Baltimore City restaurant and its neighbors.1 Appellants YIM, LLC ("YIM"), Richard D'Souza, and the Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore City ("Liquor Board" or "Board') appeal the judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City overruling the Liquor Board's transfer of a liquor license to D'Souza. Appellees and cross-appellants M. Hasip Tuzeer et al. ("Neighbors") appeal the circuit court's judgment that the liquor license is still active and that the Board had the authority to reconsider an earlier decision it made denying the license transfer. We conclude that the liquor license was still active and therefore subject to transfer. We also find that the Board had the authority to both accept transfer and renewal applications for the license and reconsider its decision to deny the license transfer. However, we remand to the Board for further factfinding on whether D'Souza complies with the requirement that an applicant for a license be a taxpayer of Baltimore City and for consideration of a newly enacted law that affects the requirement that applicants be registered voters. FACTS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS I. Factual Background YIM owns a property at 123-129 West 27 th Street in Baltimore City that has been used as a restaurant for over fifty years. This property comprises two separately addressed but

The dispute over this property has already resulted in one published opinion. See Tuzeer v. YIM, LLC, 201 Md. App. 443 (2011), cert. denied, 424 Md. 293 (2012) (affirming decision by Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals permitting continued use of the property as a restaurant).

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attached buildings: 127 West 27 th Street, where the disputed restaurant is located, and 123 West 27 th Street, which houses a bakery run by D'Souza.2 Two Sisters, LLC ("Two Sisters") rented 127 West 27 th Street from YIM in 2007 and operated a restaurant there. It applied for and received its 2007 liquor license, for May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2008.3 However, Two Sisters did not apply to renew this license before April 30, 2008. On May 22, 2008, the Liquor Board wrote Two Sisters and informed it that the Board had "not received or processed a 2008 renewal application for your location." The same letter indicated that "Article 2B, Section 10-504(d) provides that when an establishment has been closed for 180 days . . . the license dies by operation of law." 4 Two Sisters

The property was originally made up of four rowhouses, which were combined to form a single unit. Tuzeer, 201 Md. App. at 449. With certain exceptions, all liquor licenses expire on April 30 following their issuance. Md. Code (1957, 2011 Repl Vol.), Art. 2B,

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