John Lenore & Company, Model Distributing Company, John P. Lenore and Robert E. Livingston v. Olympia Brewing Company

This is an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (b) in a lawsuit arising out of the acquisition of certain assets of the Theodore Hamm Company by Olympia Brewing Company and the subsequent termination by Olympia of the former wholesale distributors of Hamm’s brand beer.

ISSUE

Does a former beer distributor have standing under Sections 4 and 7 of the Clayton Act [ 15 U.S.C. §§ 15 and 18] to sue the manufacturer-supplier who has terminated the distributorship in favor of its own distributorship network?

The district court below held that plaintiff beer distributors lacked standing to sue under Sections 4 and 7 of the Clayton Act and granted Olympia’s motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs appealed. We affirm.

FACTS

Originally, Hamm’s beer was owned and operated by the Hamm family. However, in 1965 the operation was sold to Heublein, Inc. and operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Due to adverse financial conditions, Heublein publicly announced its intent to divest itself of the Hamm’s Brewing Com pany. Plaintiffs John Lenore & Company (Lenore) and Model Distributing Company (Model) got together with several other Hamm’s distributors and purchased the Hamm’s operation…