CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WZTV) – A small, family-owned business sued the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC), claiming ABC used trickery and deception to write them a $5,000 citation for selling alcohol to a minor .

A judge agreed and ruled that the Tennessee ABC’s tactics were a ruse and in violation of its laws.

Welcome to Lookout Winery, perched above Nickajack Lake just outside of Chattanooga.

Chuck Bordogna likes to say that his family’s DNA lies in this profession.

He poured all the concrete to create this cellar. Wine comes from his grandfather’s recipes, pizza comes from his grandmother’s recipes, and sight comes from a higher power.

It’s about as “family-friendly” as a “family business” can get.

That brings us to the day the Tennessee ABC sent an agent and a minor on a sting operation to try to get Lookout Winery to sell alcohol to an underage person.

We know exactly what happened that day and you’re wondering, wait a minute, how would you know? Because there are no two sides to this story. Both sides agree on what exactly happened that day in court. So here is a mutually agreed story that you can read and judge for yourself.

An ABC agent walks in and asks about red wine, a teenager standing behind her never speaks. Here’s how it went according to co-owner Nouhaa Bordogna:

“A woman enters with a young man. The woman said she wanted to taste some red wines. She sampled them and then told me which one she wanted.

When she agreed that she wanted the Italian trios, I went back to the register to find out her total and told her, her total, how much it was, and she agreed.

So I went to the cupboard to get the bottle, which is right here. This is our Italian trio. Then I went back to the other side, to the counter to get a bag. This is where we sealed our wines.

I put it in the bag for her, and then I went back to my register to get her tickets, and at that moment, when I turned around, she’s on the phone, pretending to talk on the phone.

So I put the wine and its receipt towards her, and at that moment I found $40 sitting on the counter. I got the money, went back to my register and got 50 cents, that’s supposed to be his change.

I turned around, the young man reached out to her, so I put the 50 cents on his hand, and in the meantime the phone rang. So I turned my back to answer the phone.

I didn’t see them when they were leaving.”

A few minutes later, another ABC agent entered the basement and gave the Bordognas a $5,000 citation for selling to a minor. Even if the minor had no interaction with Ms. Bordogna.

Mrs. Bordogna couldn’t believe it. Which customer? She didn’t even know what the miner looked like.

“I can’t even tell you because I’ve never looked him in the face. He had a hat on…he actually has glasses and we never spoke. It was a conversation between her and me.”

Co-owner and husband Chuck Bordogna adds, “…no conversions. The child never drank. I never asked for a drink, which is what state law requires.

The Bordognas were so infuriated by this quote that they told the agent we are suing you over this.

“So he has the audacity to say that they don’t understand why I’m angry,” Mr. Bordogna said. “Is it because I’m Italian? My grandfather was born in 1894 and fought in World War I… my father fought in World War II.”

“I was raised by people who don’t let anyone push you around, and you don’t let an entity push you around.” said Bordogna.

The Bordognas not only sued the Tenn. ABC sued, but they won the case. The judge called it a ruse.

According to a legal definition, a ruse is “designed to deceive, mislead, encourage or confuse the employee.”

The judge said the Tenn. ABC had actually violated the law with this tactic.

Still, the Bordognas’ big victory remains costly; they spent $40,000 from their retirement accounts to fight the government and are still waiting to see if Tenn. ABC will have to reimburse them.

“Money, time, stress in your daily life and you build this business every day… hard work and having someone come in and, for less than five minutes, write a report against you and destroy your life, it’s not fair,” said Nouhaa Bordogna.

So what is the Tenn. Does ABC have anything to say about what happened? Well, they don’t defend it.

ABC communications director Aaron Rummage told us in a statement:

“This incident did not reflect our usual practices or our high standards of enforcement. We remain committed to ensuring fair and impartial enforcement and will use this experience to provide additional training, reinforcing our commitment to maintaining the highest level of professionalism in every case we handle.

This is not enough, believes the Bordogna family, not even close.

“It’s insane. These people don’t even need training. They need to be fired and they need to fire the very person who makes this decision to allow this money to continue to flow in and to ensure that this extortion continues. It’s a game, and it’s a bad game,” Bordogna said.

We have many more questions regarding this case and whether this type of tactic has ever been used. You can expect more stories in our investigation.

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