Family Winemakers of Ca. v. Jenkins, No. 09-1169

In an action by the plaintiffs, a group of California winemakers and Massachusetts residents, challenging Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 138 which establishes differential methods by which wineries distribute wines in Massachusetts, district court's grant of injunctive relief is affirmed where: 1) section 19F violates the Commerce Clause because the effect of its particular gallonage cap is to change the competitive balance between in-state and out-of-state wineries in a way that benefits Massachusetts's wineries and significantly burdens out-of-state competitors; 2) the statutory context, legislative history, and other factors also yield the unavoidable conclusion that this discrimination was purposeful; and 3) the Twenty-first Amendment cannot save section 19F from invalidation under the Commerce Clause. 

Read Family Winemakers of Ca. v. Jenkins, No. 09-1169

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Decided January 14, 2010

Judges

Before: Lynch, Chief Judge, Stahl, Circuit Judge, and DiClerico, District Judge

Opinion by  Lynch, Chief Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  David Hadas, Assistant Attorney General, Martha Coakley, Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts, and Thomas A. Barnico, Assistant Attorney General

For Appellee:      Tracy K. Genesen, Kenneth W. Starr, Micah C.E. Osgood, Gerald J. Caruso, Susan E. Engel, and Elizabeth M. Locke