MN Distribs Argue Open Wholesaling Requirement Encourages Competition, Keeps Prices Down

Dear Client: Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits recently filed a lawsuit challenging Minnesota's distributor exclusivity statute, which prohibits out-of-state spirits producers from granting exclusive rights to wholesalers, while allowing in-state producers to do so [see WSD 05-27-2021]. SGWS claims the statute, aka the Coleman Act, "discriminates in favor of in-state liquor producers in violation of the dormant Commerce Clause," per the complaint. The state actually agrees with the wholesaler, and the two parties filed a joint motion for entry of