My former Court of Appeals' colleague alerted me to this interesting appeal that is now before the New York Court of Appeals. Northeast Wine Dev., LLC v. Service-Universal Distrib., 23 A.D.3d 890 (3d Dep't 2005), concerns a retail wine and liquor store's action against a wholesale distributor of wine and liquor. The plaintiff/store alleged that the distributor refused to sell the plaintiff/store certain brands of wine and liquor at prices listed in the distributor's mandatory filings with the state liquor authority. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Law mandates, among other things, that a wholesaler file with the state liquor authority schedules of the bottle and case prices charged to retailers.
Among other things, the Appellate Division, Third Department upheld the trial court's interpretation of a bulletin from the predecessor of the state liquor authority concerning whether a wholesaler is allowed to restrict its individual sales to retailers in accordance with what they regard to be the retailers' needs and to allocate specially-packaged products where the supply is limited. The Third Department concluded that the trial court reasonably viewed the agency's bulletin as allowing the distributor to restrict their individual sales.
The two open issues are:
1. Whether the New York State Liquor Authority's purported interpretation of certain provisions of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law (the "ABC" Law) in Bulletin #85 supercedes the controlling and unambiguous statutory prohibitions and requirements in the ABC Law sec. 101-b, which governs the purchase and sale of wine and liquor across the state.
2. Whether a business may assert a claim pursuant to General Business Law secs. 349 and 350.
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