Archive for the ‘Wine Legal Battles’ Category
When it comes to alcohol, digressing into silliness isn’t uncommon. On the one hand, the stuff can get you drunk and you can do silly, stupid things. But on the other hand, the stuff is the source of huge amounts of tax revenue, it is among the most heavily regulated substances in the country, and there are entire departments of government devoted to overseeing how alcohol is made, distributed, sold and drunk. Put that all together, mix in a little…
Due Process: It’s the concept and rule that when the state or its agencies or representatives takes legal action against a person or organization, it is required to follow the law in doing so, which includes providing an avenue for the accused to dispute the charges against them. It’s a pretty important concept and in America represents the difference between tyranny and rule by the people. So why is the California Alcohol Beverage Commission in the process of suspending due…
A funny thing happened on the way to federal courts. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided to ignore the Supreme Court exists. At least, this seems to be the opinion of long-time beverage alcohol attorney and court watcher Marc Sorini, who recently wrote an analysis of the Lebamoff v Whitmer case in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals which overturned a decision of a lower court and allowed Michigan’s discriminatory retailer wine shipping ban to stand. As you may…
“Public health and safety”. It is the new mantra that wine and spirit wholesalers around the country are whispering into the ears of lawmakers, judges, the media and alcohol regulators. Not too many years ago, you didn’t hear wholesalers beat the drum of “health and safety” as they opposed efforts to reform a decades-old distribution system that was creaking and ossified but built to keep those alcohol wholesalers in control of just about everything. Today, “health and safety” all you…
So, America’s wine and spirits wholesalers have “concerns” that Kentuckians may now receive shipments of wine and spirits from out-of-state wineries and distilleries. I’m shocked. Who would have guessed that the nation’s middlemen box carriers opposed consumers getting their alcohol from any source other than them? The source of the middlemen’s concern is Kentucky House Bill 415, recently enacted into law. Their primary concerns is that the bill “failed to include the regulatory safeguards necessary to identify and crack down…
