Jose Gutierrez v. E. & J. Gallo Winery Co., Inc.

The portion of the judgment in this case which denies relief to the plaintiffs Jose Gutierrez, Gustavo Flores and Manuel V. Perez, who are referred to in the complaint as farm worker plaintiffs, is affirmed. The alleged conduct of the defendant, in its relation to these plaintiffs, is too remote from the activities of the defendants that these plaintiffs allege to give rise to a claim for relief on their behalf under the antitrust laws.

The complaint attempts to charge a conspiracy in restraint of trade. The conspirators are said to be the E. & J. Gallo Winery Co., Inc., and a number of affiliated concerns, who are the named defendants, together with all growers of grapes and other agricultural products used in Gallo wine products, and all distributors and wholesalers of Gallo wine products.

The complaint alleges price discrimination between growers, selling grapes at artificially low price levels, discriminating against certain growers, limiting the amount of wine grapes produced and sold, limiting the hours per day and days per year worked by farm workers in the growing and harvesting of grapes, territorial and other restrictions upon distributors, requiring dealers to buy…