The inaugural Notre Dame Slainte Wine, Beer, & Spirits Industry Symposium finished ten days ago and it was a resounding success. The whole mix from the programming, the food, the wine, and the hospitality, to the people who attended, it all worked.
I never thought I would become involved in planning and starting a conference from […]
When I moderated a panel at the Notre Dame Wine, Beer, and Spirits Symposium on DTC shipping and 21st Amendment challenges, a debate sprung up from pro-shipping advocates on the proper standard for judging a discriminatory state liquor law. On one side of the argument was the believe that discriminatory state liquor laws are subject […]
A Black night club owner in Western Illinois and PepsiCo seem to be the unlikeliest pair to end up in the same regulatory predicament, but as they say truth is stranger than fiction.
I represented this night club owner who obtained their liquor license after a tough two-year battle. Along the way we encountered a lack […]
Great discussing the positive result in the 6th Circuit’s decision in the Ohio wine retailer shipping case. The 6th Circuit reversed and remanded for further proceedings a decision from a district court upholding Ohio’s discriminatory wine retailer shipping law.
The state will need to provide evidence why discrimination is necessary. A solid wine for our […]
The wine industry is valued at an estimated figure of $350 billion, which means it’s a potentially lucrative marketplace to enter into. Unfortunately, they don’t print instructions on how to make money in the wine industry.
To become successful, one must be very business savvy and utilize the knowledge of experts.
The Notre Dame Slainte Liquor Industry […]
The Ohio Attorney General has decided not to seek cert with the United States Supreme Court. On September 27th, the Sixth Circuit issued an order, which stayed the Sixth Circuit’s decision, which reversed and remanded a lower court decision upholding Ohio’s discriminatory shipping law. The Stay was issued at the request of the Ohio AG, […]
California can’t get out of their way in being business unfriendly and it amazes me that big wine interest groups let them travel down this road so easily. We seem to be slowly turning back the clock from Granholm, where barriers to entry were destroyed, to an environment where barriers to entry are becoming commonplace […]
Takeaways
The Court took an absolute Commerce Clause position and relied on a U.S. Supreme Court case, which permits discrimination only when absolutely necessary.
The Court further dismissed the state’s claim that the 21st Amendment shields state discriminatory laws from Commerce Clause challenges. It held that the state misreads U.S. Supreme Court precedent […]
Recently, it was announced through a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) press release, that the FTC filed a petition in federal court to force Total Wine and More (Total) to produce documents related to the FTC’s investigation into Southern Wine and Spirits (Southern). The FTC order sought documents from Total “as part of its investigation into […]
I often times hear that liquor laws are outdated and written in a time when Al Capone and his comrades held sway over the liquor industry. Prohibition ended in 1933 and with it came the writing of new state liquor laws. Influenced by the damage Prohibition inflicted, the new liquor laws were written to create […]