1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

As Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits defends against the FTC's sweeping discriminatory pricing allegations, it could be nearing an agreement over how much sales and purchase info it can get from 5 competing distribs. Those cos and SGWS jointly told a fed ct in California last wk that they "significantly narrowed the issues in dispute," outlining what each distrib is prepared to turn over to their top competitor even as they continue to negotiate the precise scope. Meanwhile, SGWS and FTC are caught up in their own, separate disagreement over how much info the FTC must turn over and when, leading the distrib to ask the ct for sizable sanctions on the agency, including paring back the case to just 5 states, not 30+. In so doing, the distrib invoked both the objections of current FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, leveled when the FTC first brought the case in Dec 2024, and the oft-repeated contention that a success on the part of the FTC "would only raise prices on hardworking Americans." Citing the "millions of dollars" SGWS has already spent "defending itself," Southern's pleas appear to not only appeal to the ct but to the FTC's incomplete board of commissioners itself, raising the same question many observers continue to ask about this suit: what (or who) is keeping this case alive?Distribs Agree to Turn Over Top Wine & Spirits SKUs to Narrow Data Request in Key States After sending large-scale subpoenas to 11 competing distribs last summer, disputes over that request with 8 of the 11 distribs landed in 3 separate fed cts in late 2025 and early 2026. Five of the distribs &mdash; Reyes, Breakthru, RNDC, Johnson Bros and Winebow &mdash; joined forces to push back against Southern's subpoena in the same CA fed ct handling the overarching case from the FTC. And just a few wks after a mid-March hearing, the distribs are moving toward a resolution, they told the ct last wk.Each of the 5 distribs agreed to hand over up to 5 yrs worth of wine & spirits sales data in a limited number of states after sharing info with SGWS outside counsel about their top SKUs in each category. Breakthru, Johnson Bros, RNDC and Reyes will each share their 100 biggest wine and 100 biggest spirits SKUs, which will be used to further narrow what sales data they will provide to SGWS. Most distribs will limit disclosures to their operations in 5 "exemplar" states named in FTC's complaint (AZ, CA, IL, TX, WA). They're still hammering out details on sharing documents and policies reflecting costs and "supplier support."At the same time, just as separate disputes with Hensley in AZ and Mexcor in TX remain unresolved, the FTC also weighed in last wk. And it strongly echoed the arguments brought by competing distribs. The data Southern requests is "irrelevant and overbroad," in FTC's view. "The conduct of other sellers operating at the same functional level as the defendant is simply not part of the analysis" in this kind of Robinson-Patman Act case, the agency wrote, citing a favorable 9th Circuit decision handed down earlier this yr. SGWS pushed back 2 days later, doubling down on its assertions that data from competing distribs will not only help it defend itself, but show that FTC's case is based merely on "layered presumptions" disconnected from "commercial realities."Showing No Single Illegal Transaction or Harmed Retailer, FTC Case Should be Hemmed In, SGWS Sez All of that may be just a sideshow to a much larger, more substantive discovery dispute the parties brought to the ct in mid-March. In a near 450-pg joint filing (plus a couple dozen attachments), SGWS and FTC laid out the basics. Claiming violations of certain rules for the discovery phase of the case, Southern asked the ct to limit FTC's case to the 5 "exemplar" states, among other sanctions.Briefly: SGWS claims that even "three years into the agency's investigation, over thirteen months into this case, and over seven months into fact discovery, the FTC has failed to identify a single unlawful transaction" showing the price discrimination the agency alleges. Nor has it pointed to any specific harm or lost profits suffered by a single "disfavored" indie retailer, SGWS sez. Since the distrib specifically asked the agency for the transactions it views as unlawful, that represents one set of violations of discovery rules, in its view. The other violations occurred during a deposition of an FTC atty last Dec, when separate counsel for the agency interrupted and objected far too often, thereby obstructing the deposition, Southern sez.But Southern's claims are mere "gamesmanship" or problems of its own making, FTC responded, believing the distrib is far from entitled to the "summary judgment-style relief" it seeks. The ct already denied Southern's motion to dismiss, including its attempt to narrow the suit to just 5 states. And despite the distrib's contention to the contrary, the agency sez it maintained its core "caveat" all along: that "each individual instance of price discrimination does not necessarily form a standalone, complete showing of a law violation," but instead add up to a pattern of behavior that forms the basis of a claim.That's "an unprecedented legal theory," in Southern's view, an "aggregation theory" by which some unknown quantity of "perfectly lawful transactions" somehow "supposedly transform[s]" into an RPA violation. The distrib repeatedly asserts that FTC's allegations exclude details about precisely which transactions broke the law and when. Yet it "inflicted industrial scale discrimination" for years, the FTC argues, responding this wk with examples of the specifics it has offered the co. A single indie retailer in Chicago, for instance, paid at least 10% more than chain outlets within 0.4-2.8 miles, it contends, based on almost 45,000 paired transactions from 2018-2024.

Data Dispute with Competing Distribs Nears Resolution as SGWS Seeks New Limits on FTC's Case

Publishing Info