Request By:
Bernard Keene, Commissioner
Deparment of Alcoholic Beverage Control
123 Walnut Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Reid C. James, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your request for an opinion of this office relative to the meaning of the term "immediate family" as it appears in KRS 241.100(1), as revised in 1976. You also inquire as to whether its definition in that statute would have a similar meaning when applied to KRS 241.170.
KRS 241.100(1), provides,
No member of the board [State Alcoholic Beverage Control Board] or member of his immediate family or employe of the department shall have any interest in any premises or business where alcoholic beverages are manufactured, stored or sold. Nor shall he receive any commission or profit from any person applying for or receiving any license or permit. (Emphasis denotes 1976 revision by addition of underlined phrase).
Since the term "immediate family" is not defined in the statutes pertaining to alcoholic beverages, one must look elsewhere for its meaning, recognizing that the statutes of this state are to be liberally construed with a view toward promoting their object and the intent of the legislature. KRS 446.080.
The word family is an elastic term and is used to designate many relationships. Black's Law Dictionary, 4th edition (1968), offers several definitions of "family" which include -- "a collective body of any two persons living together in one house as their common home for the time; a collective body of persons, living together in one home, in a permanent or domestic character, under one head or management; In most common usuage, the word implies father, mother and children, immediate blood relatives; In secondary meaning, 'family' means those who are of the same lineage, or descend from one common progenitor."
Ballantine's Law Dictionary, 3rd edition (1969), defines "immediate family" , in an insurance sense, as "those members of the same household to which the insured belongs who are bound together by ties of relationship, such as one's parents, wife, children, brothers and sisters, excluding no one within the household for the reason only that he or she is not one whom the head of the family is legally bound to support.
"Immediate" is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary, 2d edition p. 701 (1972), as "next in order, succession, etc.; next in line; also, directly or closely related."
In Cincinnati, Newport & Covington Railway Co. v. Peluso, Ky., 293 S.W.2d 556 (1956), the phrase "immediate family" was defined as those members of the same household who are bound together by ties of relationship.
In Bays v. Mahan, Ky., 362 S.W.2d 732 (1962), it was held that an insured's aged mother living with and dependent upon her son for support was a member of his "immediate family" . Citing Bell v. Keach, 80 Ky. 42, 3 Ky. Law Rep. 520 and 653, the Court stated,
In legal contemplation, whomsoever it is the natural or moral duty of the debtor to support, or is dependent upon him for support, may be considered and treated as a member of his family. Accordingly, it has been consistently held that the infant brother or sister, or aged and helpless parent of the debtor, may constitute a family in the meaning of the law. (362 S.W.2d at 733).
It is well recognized that the words of a statute should be given their primary meaning in the absence of a specific intent to the contrary. Based upon the definitions and cases noted above it is our opinion that the phrase "immediate family" , as it is used in KRS 241.100(1), should be interpreted in the primary sense -- that of a collective body of persons living together in one home in a permanent and domestic character under one head or management.
Had the legislature, in enacting this statute, intended that a broader meaning be applied to this phrase it could easily have made such an indication. That the qualifier "immediate" was used demonstrates in itself that the legislature intended to exclude only those persons living in the same household as the board member from having an interest in the premises or business of one dealing in alcoholic beverages.
Cases in other jurisdictions construing the term "immediate family" have reached similar results. See Bryant v. Deseret News Pub. Co., 120 Utah 241, 233 P2d 355 (1951); Kingsley v. Hawthorne Fabrics, Inc., 41 N.J. 521 (1964); Bertera's Hopewell Foodland, Inc. v. Masters, 428 Pa.20 (1967); In re Estate of Noel, 210 Kan 31, 499 P2d 1072 (1972).
It is therefore our conclusion that KRS 241.100(1) only precludes those relations living with and supported by a board member from having an interest in any premises or business where alcoholic beverages are manufactured, stored or sold.
In regard to your second inquiry, it is our opinion that the meaning of the phrase "immediate family" as used in KRS 241.100(1), would also apply to KRS 241.170 as those statutes are inter-related.
KRS 241.170(3), provides,
No person shall be a city administrator or an employee of the city under the supervision of the city administrator, who would be disqualified to be a member of the Board under KRS 241.100.
Since KRS 241.100 precludes a board member or a member of his immediate family from holding an interest in a business dealing in alcoholic beverages, a city administrator, who must meet these same qualifications, would be similarly precluded.