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The antitrust complaint against Southern Glazer will go to court

Posted on by darion

Bottled alcoholic drinks on the shelf. Source: Kondor83 / Shutterstock

An antitrust complaint filed against US beverage distributors Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits and Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) will go to trial.

This decision was made following yesterday’s (May 30) ruling by a federal judge, who found that the complaint filed by US online alcohol wholesaler Provi was sufficient for further investigation.

Provi – an online business-to-business alcohol trading platform – filed the lawsuit against Southern Glazer’s and RNDC in March 2022 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

In a statement, the wholesaler said both parties had made “unlawful efforts” to violate competition laws.

He accused the two groups of working to “maintain or enhance their monopoly power” in online alcohol markets for “search and display advertising on online alcohol markets and data analytics services” in “certain states.”

Southern Glazer’s and RNDC were also accused of “blocking and rejecting” wine and spirits orders from customers who chose to “communicate through Provi” as a “conspiracy to boycott” the company “by coercing or coercing retailers.” so that they do not use it.

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Claims were also made specifically against Southern, which said the group allegedly forced retailers “to use its own e-commerce marketplace by requiring all online sales to occur through its own online marketplace.”

Maldonado added that the actions of Southern Glazer and RNDC required further investigation, given that their actions were likely “not limited to Provi alone.”

In response to the news, in a statement, Provi founder and CEO Taylor Katzman said: “Today’s final decision allows our case to move forward.

“The tactics regularly and often openly used by the South and the RNDC suppress competition in the markets we have identified and harm everyone from producers to retailers and consumers.

“The case is important for the future of the industry, which is necessarily moving to digital solutions. We look forward to hearing our case and obtaining valuable relief for Provi and the industry.”

Commenting on the decision, a Southern Glazer spokesman said Only drinks: “We respectfully disagree with the Court’s ruling. We believe the claims in this lawsuit are without merit and will continue to vigorously defend the company against these allegations.”

Southern Glazer’s has been the subject of numerous antitrust investigations recently. In 2023, Politico reports suggested that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had opened an investigation into a Miami distributor for violating price discrimination laws.

Only drinks also contacted the RNDC for comment.