Alpha Distributing Co. of California, Inc. v. Jack Daniel's Distillery, Lem Motlow Prop., Inc.

This matter comes before the Court upon application of plaintiff, Alpha Dis tributing Company, a wholesale liquor distributor which has had an exclusive dealership arrangement with defendant, Jack Daniel’s Distillery, for a preliminary injunction prohibiting Daniel’s and defendant Brown Forman Distillers Corporation, a corporate affiliate of Daniel’s, from marketing Jack Daniel’s whisky in a large northern California area except through plaintiff.

The record consists of the complaint and affidavits filed by the parties.

The complaint’s first cause of action alleges breach of an oral exclusive distributorship contract. Plaintiff concedes, however, that mere breach of contract is not the basis of its application for injunctive relief.

Nevertheless, this first cause of action indicates some of the numerous issues of fact and questions of law involved in this suit.

There is an issue of fact concerning the existence and the terms of the oral contract, itself, especially with respect to its duration, plaintiff asserting that it was to continue so long as plaintiff performed it, and defendant asserting that it was terminable at will.

There are questions of fact, whether the…