FTC Settles Robinson-Patman Case Against Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits
A court-entered consent decree requires Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits to keep its wine and spirits pricing under independent review for six years, resolving the FTC’s Robinson-Patman Act case.
Per a single law firm client alert (Morgan Lewis, republished on JD Supra), the Federal Trade Commission has settled its Robinson-Patman Act case against Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits LLC, and the court has entered a consent decree. The decree reportedly places the company’s pricing under independent review for six years.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: Robinson-Patman Act litigation — long dormant and rarely prosecuted — is being revived by the Commission, and a six-year pricing monitor is an unusually intrusive and durable remedy. Suppliers and distributors in beer, wine and spirits, and other consumer-goods verticals sell through tiered, volume-discounted channels, so a compliance monitor of this length reaches directly into trade discount architecture, customer classifications, freight and billing practices, and territory management. Retailers and distributors who buy or resell through affected channels should expect scrutiny of how discriminatory terms are documented and defended.
What to watch: the full decree text for the scope of the independent review, the conduct provisions and any obligations running to customers or competitors, and whether the Commission signals additional RPA actions in adjacent distribution sectors. Because the reporting here comes from one firm's alert, the precise terms — and any broader policy significance the Commission may attach — should be verified against the FTC's own announcement and the entered order.