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Connecticut Fine Wine and Spirits, LLC, dba Total Wine & More v. Michelle H. Seagull, Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 17-2003 · judgment July 29, 2019

Certiorari denied · April 6, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 20% cert probability (95% interval 13%–29%)

Before the decision, about 4.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Second Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Question presented

Connecticut law requires private beer, wine and liquor wholesalers to “post” their prices in advance so that all competing wholesalers can match them, to “hold” those prices for a month, and to refrain from offering quantity discounts to retailers. In addition, the wholesalers in this scheme determine not only the case prices paid by retailers, but also the minimum bottle prices paid by consumers. By design, this scheme mimics the results of an illegal price-fixing conspiracy while enabling the cartel’s participants to avoid any explicit “agreement.” Yet no state actor supervises the ensuing prices to ensure their reasonableness. The question presented, which has divided the courts of appeals, is: Whether Section 1 of the Sherman Act preempts state laws facilitating such unsupervised private price-fixing. (i)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Carter G. Phillips
Sidley Austin LLP

For respondent
Clare E. Kindall
Office of the Attorney General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Apr 06 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 18 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/3/2020.
  3. Mar 16 2020
    Reply of petitioners Connecticut Fine Wine and Spirits, LLC, dba Total Wine & More filed.
  4. Mar 03 2020
    Brief of respondents Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Mar 03 2020
    Brief of Langer, Robert Mark Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut, Inc. in opposition filed.
  6. Jan 03 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, LLC filed.
  7. Dec 24 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Respondents, Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull, et al.
  8. Dec 17 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 3, 2020, for all respondents.
  9. Dec 13 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 3, 2020, for all respondents.
  10. Dec 13 2019
    Motion of intervenor respondents to extend the time to file a response from January 3, 2020 to March 3, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  11. Dec 11 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 3, 2020 to March 3, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  12. Dec 04 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 3, 2020)