ALCOHOL LAW ADVISOR
ALCOHOL LAW ADVISOR
Regulatory and Distribution Law Updates for the Alcohol Industry
ALCOHOL LAW ADVISOR
Regulatory and Distribution Law Updates for the Alcohol Industry
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US Supreme Court Asked to Clarify the Interaction Between the 21st Amendment and the Commerce Clause

by | Oct 13, 2016 | , ,

The Texas Package Stores Association has asked the US Supreme Court (via a “Petition of Certiorari”) to hear a case that could clarify the interaction between the 21st Amendment and the non-discrimination between states principle of the “dormant” Commerce Clause.

The case arose in Texas, where the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ultimately held that the Supreme Court’s Granholm v. Heald (2005) decision did not limit the reach of the Commerce Clause in alcohol cases to situations where a state discriminates against producers or products. Decisions by two other federal Court of Appeal’s Circuits (the Second and the Eight) have expressly limited Granholm’s reach to discrimination against producers and products. Thus, the Texas Package Stores Association would like the Supreme Court to reverse the Fifth Circuit and explicitly limit the non-discrimination principle of Granholm to cases involving alcohol products and producers.

The Supreme Court hears only a small fraction of the cases brought before it on a Petition of Certiorari, so the chances that the Supreme Court ultimately reviews the Fifth Circuit’s decision remain low. Nevertheless, the existence of a “split” of opinion between different federal Courts of Appeal increase the chances of Supreme Court review.



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The BA’s Growing Influence on Capitol Hill

by and | Sep 29, 2016 | , , ,

How is it that the Brewers Association—an organization that has no political action committee, has employed a staff lobbyist for only 18 months, and has only had a strong presence in Washington since 2009—has gained significant traction among policymakers in the nation’s capital?

The BA is now a serious player in Washington. That is not by accident; it’s a carefully conceived strategy implemented by the BA board and senior staff—including president and CEO Bob Pease—over the last seven years that seeks to leverage the inherent strengths of America’s small craft brewers.

Read the full article, originally published in the September/October 2016 issue of The New Brewer.



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New TTB Final Rule Released on Denatured Alcohol

by | Sep 12, 2016 | ,

The new TTB Final Rule that was released in the Federal Register on August 20, 2016 will partially streamline the use of non-beverage alcohol products in the US. While statutory requirements do not permit TTB to completely de-regulate the distribution and sale of denatured alcohol, the attached rule, among other things:

  1. Reclassifies a number of “specially denatured alcohol” (“SDA”) formulas as “completely denatured alcohol” (“CDA”). As the regulatory requirements for distributing CDA are much less stringent than those that apply to SDA, these reclassifications amount to a lessening of regulatory burdens for companies dealing in such products.
  2. Establishes additional “general use formulas,” which permit the production of SDA products without the need for a specific TTB formula approval.
  3. Exempts distilled spirits plant (“DSP”) operators from the requirements to obtain an additional permit to produce and handle SDA products within the bonded premises of a DSP.
  4. Makes a variety of technical changes and deletions to the regulations in order to meet what TTB views as current industry practice.

While the TTB reforms do not deregulate SDA use to the extent that most producers and users would like, the Final Rule represents a welcome step in the direction of deregulation and simplification. A substantially more radical deregulation of such products would require statutory changes and therefore are beyond the realm of what TTB can accomplish on its own.



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Texas Court Strikes Down Prohibition on Payments for Brand Rights

by | Aug 30, 2016 | ,

Late last week, a district judge in Texas declared unconstitutional under the Texas Constitution a provision of the state’s Beer Industry Fair Dealing Law (i.e., the beer “franchise” law) that expressly prohibits a brewer from accepting a payment in exchange for a grant of territorial distribution rights.  Section 102.75(a)(7) of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, enacted in 2013, applies generally to “manufacturers,” including both in-state brewers and out-of-state brewers holding nonresident manufacturer’s licenses in Texas.  In 2014, three small Texas brewers – Live Oak Brewing Company, Revolver Brewing and Peticolas Brewing Company – sued the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) and its executive director, Sherry Cook, arguing that Section 102.75(a)(7) violates the Texas Constitution.

In a short summary order, the district court judge agreed.  The court found that Section 102.75(a)(7) violates the Texas Constitution’s “Due Course of Law” provision, Texas’ analog to the US Constitution’s Due Process Clause, which states that a Texas citizen may not “be deprived of life, liberty, property, privileges or immunities, or in any manner disfranchised, except by the due course of the law of the land.”  Tex. Const. Art. I, § 19.

The court granted the plaintiff breweries’ motion for summary judgment on their Due Course of Law argument and enjoined the TABC and Ms. Cook (and their respective employees, agents and successors) from enforcing Section 102.75(a)(7) against the plaintiffs and any other brewers.  The court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim that Section 102.75(a)(7) amounted to a taking of private property in violation of the Texas Constitution, though, and also dismissed the plaintiffs’ request for attorney’s fees.

Although the judge’s order did not contain any detail regarding her reasoning, the case restores an important opportunity for brewers distributing – or interested in distributing – beer in Texas.  Further, although the TABC may appeal, the decision should remind state legislatures that state restrictions on the conduct of private parties in the alcohol industry in the name of protecting the three-tier system must still pass muster under federal and state constitutional principles.



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Sixth Circuit Tri County Decision Provides Much-Needed Clarity on “Successor” Provision in Ohio Franchise Law

by | Jul 12, 2016 |

I attach a copy of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s recent decision in Tri County Wholesale Distributors v. Labatt USA Operating Company, Nos. 15-3710/3769 (6th Cir., July 6, 2016). For students of the increasingly byzantine case law interpreting the Ohio franchise law’s “successor” provision, Ohio Rev. Code § 1333.85(D), the opinion provides some much-needed clarity on several points.

While the Tri County decision does not formally bind Ohio state courts on questions of Ohio law, it binds lower federal courts and provides strong persuasive authority to the state courts on the following points under the successor provision:

  1. A supplier-tier entity can qualify as a “successor” where the change-in-control occurred (as it frequently does in modern transactions) at the holding company level several corporate layers above the operating (brewing/winemaking) company. Distributors in Ohio have been arguing that the successor provision requires a new operating company that is, itself, a manufacturer, but the Sixth Circuit rejected this “hyperliteral” approach.
  2. The successor provision, by providing suppliers with a means to terminate without cause upon payment of fair market value compensation, does not constitute an unconstitutional governmental taking of property under the federal and Ohio constitutions. In rejecting the distributors’ contrary argument, the Sixth Circuit characterized Ohio’s beer and wine franchise statute as “an anticompetitive statute that deprives suppliers of their freedom to terminate contracts with distributors,” and the successor provision as “an exception to this anticompetitive scheme.”
  3. Distributors are not entitled to any additional award of damages for lost future income in addition to the fair market value paid to the distributors under the successor provision. The Sixth Circuit characterized this damages claim as “asking for a double recovery” because future profits are directly included in the calculation of fair market value.
  4. Distributors’ fair market value award should be reduced by the amount of profits they earned on selling the brand during the time spent litigating the successor status of the supplier. This final holding may substantially reduce the current incentive of distributors to challenge successor terminations under the Ohio statute, as the profit reaped from continued sales now will be deducted from the fair market value award distributors are due under the statute.

In short, the Sixth Circuit’s Tri County opinion represents a win for supplier-tier companies and clarifies a number of points of Ohio law that have been litigated extensively in the past several years.



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Non-Compete Agreements: Friend or Foe?

by | Jul 5, 2016 | ,

With the boom of craft producers, competition is ever-increasing. If you’re thinking about going into the business or you already have, undoubtedly you have considered how you can best protect your products, recipes, methodologies, and distribution from imitation or recreation. The sale and manufacture of unique craft drinks creates a unique set of issues and considerations.

Read the full article, originally published in the Summer 2016 issue of Artisan Spirit.



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Guidance Provided on Interplay of “Dormant” Commerce Clause and the 21st Amendment

by | May 4, 2016 | ,

On April 21, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down its opinion in Cooper v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, No. 14-51343.  It provides further guidance, at least within the Fifth Circuit, on the interplay of the “dormant” Commerce Clause and the 21st Amendment following the Supreme Court of the United States’ oft-cited decision in Granholm v. Heald, 544 US 460 (2005).

The case arose when the Texas Package Store Association attempted to revisit the Fifth Circuit’s two-decade old decision in Cooper v. McBeath, 11 F.3d 547 (5th Cir. 1994).  Cooper v. McBeath permanently enjoined the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) from enforcing certain residency requirements imposed on wholesalers and retailers by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code.  In that decision, the Fifth Circuit decided that the residency requirement was a protectionist measure and therefore unconstitutional under the so-called “dormant” Commerce Clause of the US Constitution.

In 2014, the Texas Package Store Association (TPSA) moved for relief from the Cooper v. McBeath injunction, arguing that Granholm and its progeny undermined the earlier decision’s reasoning.  The district court ruled that the TPSA lacked standing to seek relief, although it also suggested that TPSA’s motion for relief should be denied on the merits.

In last month’s Cooper v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission decision, the Fifth Circuit concluded that TPSA had standing to seek relief from the Cooper v. McBeath injunction, but then held that TPSA’s motion should be denied on the merits.  Laying out the standard for relief as whether Granholm and its progeny represent a “significant change in decisional law,” the Fifth Circuit concluded that no significant change had occurred.

The Fifth Circuit begins its analysis by noting that Granholm expressly refused to overrule prior cases holding that the Commerce Clause qualified states’ rights under the 21st Amendment.  TPSA argued that the statement in Granholm labeling the three-tier system “unquestionably legitimate” essentially removed Commerce Clause protections from state laws dealing with the wholesale and retail tiers of the industry.  Characterizing that language in Granholm as “dictum,” the Fifth Circuit rejected TPSA’s argument as “unconvincing.”  Refusing to follow an Eighth Circuit decision that embraced logic similar to the argument advanced by TPSA, the Fifth Circuit instead relied on its own decision in Wine Country Gift Baskets.com v. Steen, 612 F.3d 809 (5th Cir. 2010).  Thus “state regulations of the retailer and wholesaler tiers are not immune from Commerce Clause scrutiny just because they do not discriminate against out-of-state liquor.”  Instead, although the 21st Amendment permits a state to impose a physical-residency requirement that may favor in-state businesses, it may not impose “a durational-residency requirement on the owners of alcoholic beverage retailers and wholesalers.”  (Quoting Cooper v. McBeath, emphasis in original).

The Fifth Circuit accordingly reasoned that nothing in Granholm and its subsequent application represent a significant change in the law.  It therefore reversed the decision of the district court and directed it to enter an order denying on the merits TPSA’s motion for relief.

Cooper v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission [...]

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Join McDermott Partner Marc Sorini at the Annual Craft Brewers’ Conference

by | Apr 26, 2016 | , ,

The annual Craft Brewers’ Conference will be held on May 3-6, 2016 in Philadelphia, PA. McDermott partner, Marc Sorini will give two presentations:

  • Wednesday, May 4, 1:20-2:20 pm: Marc will kick off his annual government affairs presentation by summarizing the results of recent research to be published in The New Brewer proving that no legally-mandated three-tier system existed immediately following the repeal of Prohibition. He then will provide an update on the biggest legal issues facing the industry during the past year, including recent tied-house/trade practice activities, the false advertising class actions and a distribution update.
  • Friday, May 6, 1:55-2:55 pm: Marc will join two other lawyers and moderator Bill Covaleski of Victory Brewing to explore the issue of beer “franchise law” reform.

For more information or to register, please visit https://www.craftbrewersconference.com/.



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A Practical Blueprint for Distribution

by | Mar 22, 2016 | ,

Whether you’re an experienced brewer getting ready to enter a new state, a startup packaging brewery looking to serve your home market, or a brewpub expanding to provide products to local retailers, you need a viable distribution plan. In recent years, individual brewers have deepened their understanding of industry dynamics in the heavily regulated beer distribution system. While many are effectively advocating reforms to accommodate new brewery business models, change occurs slowly in the political process. Those in business today who want to remain in business tomorrow need to deal with the existing realities of the marketplace. The following is a primer of common questions and answers related to distribution.

Read the full article, originally published in the March/April issue of The New Brewer.



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