California Retail Liquor Dealers Association v. Midcal Aluminum, Inc.

California law required wine sellers to follow minimum resale prices set by private wholesalers in filed price schedules, enforced through fines and license revocation; when wholesale distributor Midcal (plaintiff) was penalized for selling below the scheduled price, it challenged the pricing scheme as an antitrust violation, and the court of appeal ruled in its favor, prompting the liquor dealers association (defendant) to argue the scheme was immune under the state-action doctrine.