Judge Bars Liquor Store From Selling to Drunks

A Superior Court judge has issued a permanent injunction forcing a Santa Monica liquor store owner to stop selling alcohol to customers who are drunk.

Judge Raymond Choate on Thursday issued the order against Edward I. Mizrahi, owner of Frank’s Liquors at 155 Broadway, in response to a brief filed the same day by City Atty. Robert M. Myers. The injunction also requires Mizrahi to pay $3,000 fines to Santa Monica and the county of Los Angeles, plus an additional $2,000 to Santa Monica to cover court costs.

Mizrahi also must keep vagrants and loiterers away from his store.

He is liable for a $6,000 fine for each violation of the injunction.

The action against Mizrahi was part of a police crackdown on drunken panhandlers and vagrants near Palisades Park. Police said that last December they observed a store employee selling liquor to several customers who appeared to be drunk. The city filed suit, seeking an injunction.

Selling liquor to a drunk person is a misdemeanor, Myers said. He added that the city pursued the injunction instead of the criminal charges because the injunction fines are more severe and would better ensure compliance.

Mizrahi said he already is following the injunction’s requirements.

“I don’t see any problem with this settlement,” he said. “I feel that I’m responsible to the city, and it’s to my advantage not to have vagrants and panhandlers around my store.”

Police will continue to monitor the store, Myers said.