Kaua'i cafe gets liquor license

Advertiser Staff

Kaua'i County officials have issued a liquor license for A Pacific Cafe in Kapa'a, after determining the license is protected under federal bankruptcy law.

The restaurant's owner, Jean-Marie Josselin, had not renewed his 2001-02 license by the June 30 county deadline because he did not have the necessary federal and state tax clearances, a county official said this week.

Josselin then received two 30-day extensions from the county to obtain the clearances before he filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization for the restaurant July 31.

A business in Chapter 11 is not required to obtain tax clearances to renew its liquor license. But because Josselin filed the bankruptcy after the June 30 deadline, county officials had to review bankruptcy case law to determine whether the license could be issued without the tax clearances, according to Eric Honma, director of the Kaua'i Department of Liquor Control.