§920. Appeal

A. Decisions of the commissioner in withholding, suspending, or revoking permits are final and binding on all parties unless appealed in the manner provided by this Section and finally reversed by the courts.

B. Any party aggrieved by a decision of the commissioner to withhold, suspend, or revoke a permit may, within ten days of the notification of the decision, take a devolutive or suspensive appeal to the district court having jurisdiction of the applicant's or permittee's place of business, proposed or actual as the case may be. Such appeals shall be filed in the district courts in the same manner as original suits are instituted therein. The appeals shall be tried de novo. Either party may amend and supplement his pleadings and additional witnesses may be called and heard. When there has been a previous criminal prosecution for the same or a similar act upon which the refusal, suspension, or revocation of a permit is being considered, evidence of an acquittal, dismissal, or plea of nolo contendere in a court of competent jurisdiction is admissible in the trial of the appeal.

C. Within ten calendar days of the signing of the judgment by the district court in any such appeal case, the commissioner or the applicant for a permit or permittee, as the case may be, may file a devolutive or suspensive appeal of the judgment to the appellate court of proper jurisdiction. These appeals shall be perfected in the manner provided for in civil cases and shall be devolutive or suspensive only. A suspensive appeal granted pursuant to the provisions of this Section that does not result in the reversal of a decision of the commissioner to withhold, suspend, or revoke a permit, may subject the appellant to a fine of up to five thousand dollars upon a finding by the court that the appeal is frivolous. If the district court determines that the decision of the commissioner in withholding, suspending, or revoking the permit was in error, the decision of the commissioner shall not be voided if the commissioner takes an appeal to the court of appeals in the time provided for suspensive appeals.

D. All proceedings in the district and appellate courts arising under this Chapter are civil in nature and shall be heard summarily by the court, without a jury, shall take precedence over other civil cases, and shall be tried in chambers or in open court, in or out of term.

E. The courts of this state shall have jurisdiction to issue restraining orders and writs of injunction restraining the commissioner as provided in the constitution, but no writ or order shall issue before a decision has been made by the commissioner either withholding the application for a permit, or suspending or revoking a permit under this Chapter.

Acts 1997, No. 1370, §2, eff. Oct. 1, 1997; Acts 2016, No. 477, §1, eff. June 13, 2016.