Vice President Kamala Harris shocked the political world when she suggested price controls as a way to deal with inflation. Price controls were last implemented under the Nixon Presidency and their impact was a negative for the economic system.
With playing a central role in her economic plan layout, there is no doubt, if elected President […]
Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, LLC (“Southern”) and Republic National Distributing Company, LLC (“RNDC”) received bad news last week that Provi’s case alleging Southern and RDNC’s violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act can move forward.
Southern and RNDC filed a motion to dismiss the charges in response to Provi’s lawsuit against them. A motion to dismiss […]
It may surprise many of my readers that I recently authored an amicus brief, which advocated for the expansion of a state’s franchise rules. It seems at odds with my free-market principles that abhor economic protectionism.
Liquor franchise rules guarantee that a supplier/manufacturer cannot get out of a distribution agreement with a liquor distributor without […]
PepsiCo has called it a day for Blue Cloud Distribution and will be getting out of the liquor distribution business. This represents a major victory for the wholesale tier. PepsiCo had leased its IP to Boston Beer to make a Hard Mountain Dew, and also leased some of its other brands such as Lipton Hard […]
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 […]
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 […]
The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Anvar v. Dwyer (1st circuit decision) affirmed the district court in part, vacated it in part, and remanded for further proceedings.
Takeaways
The 1st Circuit vacated the district court’s decision in very strong terms. It rejected theoretical arguments about essential elements, health and safety, […]