Guild Wineries & Distilleries v. J. Sosnick & Son

Opinion

BRUNN, J. *

* (1a) This is a Cartwright Act private antitrust case. We hold that it is unlawful for a manufacturer who also distributes its own products in one geographic area to terminate an independent distributor when a substantial factor in bringing about the termination is the distributor’s refusal to accept the manufacturer’s attempt to enforce or impose territorial or customer restrictions among distributors. We reverse a judgment in favor of the manufacturer because of instructions to the jury inconsistent with this principle.

I

Guild Wineries and Distillers (hereinafter Guild)…