The only mistake Dan Blomgren says he made was checking the wrong box on a poorly worded piece of paper.

But an attorney seeking to revoke Blomgren’s liquor license told a judge Monday that Blomgren deliberately created an illegal ownership scheme to gain a competitive edge among Lawrence liquor stores.

“It really boils down to a businessman who became greedy,” said Assistant Atty. Gen. Laura Graham, representing the Kansas Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Blomgren and his wife, Jill, owners of Lawrence’s two Cork & Barrel Liquor Stores, appeared in District Court opposite Graham on Monday to make their case that the state unfairly revoked their liquor licenses last year. The Blomgrens are asking Judge Stephen Six to overturn the state’s decision on the grounds that it was “arbitrary and capricious.”

State law prohibits one person from owning more than one liquor store, although a husband and wife can each own a store. Dan Blomgren holds the license for the Cork & Barrel at Ninth and Mississippi streets; Jill Blomgren holds the license for the store at 23rd and Iowa streets.

The state revoked Dan Blomgren’s license last year after finding he had concealed an illegal ownership interest in a second store, Parkway Liquors, in 2002 when he applied for a license for the Cork & Barrel store. Even though he had sold Parkway Liquors on paper to a friend, the state says, he remained in charge of the store and controlled all its assets. He kept utility accounts and insurance coverage for the store in his name, and he paid his creditors out of the store’s accounts.

A customer heads into Cork & Barrel liquor store at 23rd and Iowa streets on Monday. Dan and Jill Blomgren, owners Cork & Barrel, appeared in court Monday to make their case that the state unfairly revoked their liquor licenses last year.

In short, Graham said, the friend’s ownership of Parkway Liquors was “a fraud.”

But the Blomgrens’ attorney, Dan Owen, said it all came down to a box Dan Blomgren checked on his license application. It asked if he had an “ownership interest” in any other store. He said “no.” Owen said his client may have had a beneficial interest in Parkway Liquors, but it wasn’t an “ownership interest” – a term for which he said there is no clear definition.

Even if it was wrong, Owen told the judge, it doesn’t justify taking his client’s license.

“Dan consistently has believed that he didn’t have an ownership interest in Parkway Liquors,” Owen said. “If he checked the wrong box … how does that merit the destruction of his life’s work since 1988?”

The state also revoked Jill Blomgren’s license for a list of violations that the state said gave her a prohibited “one-stop shopping” advantage over other liquor stores. Graham said the violations included delivering alcohol to unlicensed venues, selling nonalcohol items such as glasses and ice, and running a catering business from the store.

Again, Owen said the punishment didn’t fit the alleged crime. Does it hurt the community, he asked, for Jill Blomgren to deliver wine and cheese to a function run by the city or by Kansas University?

Monday’s hearing amounts to the Blomgrens’ first chance to argue their case before a judge. When the couple sued last year in District Court, the state argued they had skipped a step in the process and were first required to have a hearing before the Kansas Secretary of Revenue before they could seek a judge’s review.

Six disagreed, and when the state appealed his decision, the Kansas Court of Appeals declined to get involved.

Six is expected to rule on the matter at a later date.