Local Breweries File Lawsuit With The State Over Sale Limits

CHARLOTTE, NC — The Olde Mecklenburg and NoDa Breweries have filed a lawsuit with the state claiming sale limitations are unconstitutional.

The local breweries claim that the law limiting how much of their own beer they can sell is unconstitutional. Currently, brewers can sell 25,000 barrels on their own before a wholesaler takes over the sales.

The brewery’s attorneys, Bob Orr and Drew Erteschik, released the following statement regarding the filing:

“Today, we filed a lawsuit challenging a set of unconstitutional laws that punish our State’s craft breweries for their hard work and success.  Our clients are small craft breweries that are subject to arbitrary laws forcing them to hand over their self-distribution businesses, distribution rights, brand control, and future profits to private distributors.  These laws violate multiple provisions of the North Carolina Constitution, including those that prohibit the government from taking private property from one person and giving it to another.  Our lawsuit asks the courts to hold that these laws cannot be enforced against our clients, and we look forward to vindicating their constitutional rights in court.”

Small brewers had previously tried to get lawmakers to raise the number to 200,000 barrels but were unsuccessful.

You can read the full complaint by clicking here.