United States Second Circuit

District court order granting defendants' motions to dismiss plaintiff's request for a declaratory judgment is affirmed where sections of the New York Alcoholic Beverage Control Laws banning direct sales to consumers by out-of-state liquor retailers and instituting a three-tier system for the regulation of alcoholic beverages evenhandedly regulate the importation and distribution of liquor within the state and do not discriminate against out-of-state producers in violation of the Commerce Clause, and thus are a valid exercise of the state's rights under the Twenty-first Amendment.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/01/2009
• Published 07/01/2009

Judges

• WESLEY, Circuit Judge:, Before:  WALKER, CALABRESI, and WESLEY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Peter E. Seidman, Milberg LLP, New York, NY, (Sanford P. Dumain, Milberg LLP, New York, NY, James A. Tanford, Indiana Univ. School of Law, Bloomington, IN, and Robert D. Epstein, Epstein Cohen Donahoe & Mendes, Indianapolis, IN, of counsel), for Plaintiffs-Appellants., Sarah L. Olson, Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, LLP, Chicago, IL (Richard Harrison, Westerman Ball Ederer Miller & Sharfstein, LLP, Mineola, NY, of counsel), for Arthur J. DeCelle, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Beer Institute, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae The Beer Institute., Anthony S. Kogut, Willingham & Coté, P.C., East Lansing, MI, for Amicus Curiae The American Beverage Licensees Association., Carter G. Phillips, Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC (Jacqueline G. Cooper, Sidley Austin, LLP, Washington DC, Craig Wolf, Joanne Moak, and Karin Moore, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, Inc., Washington, DC, of counsel), for Amici Curiae Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, Inc., National Beer Wholesalers Association, and Sazerac Company.


• For Appellees:
  
• Richard P. Dearing, Assistant Solicitor General (Barbara D. Underwood, Solicitor General, and Michael S. Belohlavek, Senior Counsel, Division of Appeals & Opinions, of counsel), for Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General of the State of New York, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees., John F. O'Mara, Davison & O'Mara, P.C., Elmira, N.Y. (Harris Beach PLLC, Pittsford, NY, of counsel), for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee Eber Bros. Wine & Liquor Corp., Howard Graff, Dickstein Shapiro LLP, New York, NY, for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee Charmer Industries, Inc., Alan J. Gardner, Verini & Gardner, New York, NY, for Intervenor-Defendant-Appellee Metropolitan Package Store Association, Inc.