§ 12-9-104 — Unfair and prohibited acts

Wyoming § 12-9-104

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 12: Alcoholic Beverages
• Ch. 9: MALT BEVERAGES
• Art. 1: RELATIONS BETWEEN MALT BEVERAGE

Text

(a) It shall be a violation of this act for a manufacturer
or manufacturer's officer, agent or other representative
thereof:
(i) To coerce or compel, or attempt to coerce or
compel, any malt beverage distributor to order or accept
delivery of any malt beverage or any other commodity which the
distributor has not voluntarily ordered;
(ii) To refuse to deliver in reasonable quantities
and within a reasonable time after receipt of the distributor's
order to any distributor having a franchise for the distribution
and sale of malt beverages by such manufacturer, malt beverages
covered by the franchise or contract. However, the refusal to
deliver malt beverages shall not be considered a violation of
this section if the refusal is due to failure of the distributor
to pay the manufacturer pursuant to the contract, the
distributor's insolvency, an act of God, work stoppage or delay
due to a strike or labor difficulty, a bona fide shortage of
materials, freight embargo or other cause over which the
manufacturer, or any agent thereof, shall have no control;
(iii) To coerce or compel, or attempt to coerce or
compel, a malt beverage distributor to enter into any agreement,
whether written or oral, supplementary to an existing franchise
with the manufacturer or officer, agent or other representative
thereof, by threatening to cancel any franchise or any
contractual agreement existing between the manufacturer and
distributor. However, notice in good faith by a manufacturer to
a malt beverage distributor of the distributor's violation or
breach of any terms or provisions of a franchise or contractual
agreement shall not constitute a violation of this act if the
notice is in writing, is mailed by registered or certified mail
to the distributor at his current business address, and contains
the specific facts of the distributor's alleged violation or
breach of the franchise or contractual agreement;
(iv) Except as provided in W.S. 12-9-120, to
terminate, cancel, fail to renew or refuse to continue the
franchise of any distributor without good cause, as defined in
this act. The nonrenewal of a franchise or selling agreement
without good cause shall constitute an unfair termination or
cancellation, regardless of the specified time period of the
franchise or selling agreement;
(v) To discriminate, either directly or indirectly,
in price, programs or terms of sale offered to franchisees,
where the effect of the discrimination may be to substantially
lessen competition among distributors or to give to one (1)
holder of a franchise any competitive advantage over other
holders of the same or similar franchise;
(vi) To prevent or attempt to prevent, by contract or
otherwise, any malt beverage distributor from changing the
capital structure of his distributorship or the means by or
through which he finances the operation of his distributorship;
(vii) To require a malt beverage distributor to
assent to a release, assignment, novation, waiver or estoppel
which would relieve any person from liability imposed by this
act. However, nothing in this section shall be construed to
limit or prohibit good faith dispute settlements entered into by
the parties;
(viii) To restrict or inhibit, directly or
indirectly, the right of free association among manufacturers or
distributors of malt beverage for any lawful purpose;
(ix) To fix or maintain the price at which a
distributor may resell malt beverages;
(x) To coerce, or attempt to coerce, any distributor
to accept delivery of any malt beverage or other commodity
ordered by a distributor if the order was properly canceled by
the distributor in accordance with the reasonable procedures of
the manufacturer;
(xi) To change a distributor's quota of a brand or
brands, if the change is not made in good faith;
(xii) To require a distributor, by any means, to
participate in or contribute to any local or national
advertising fund controlled directly or indirectly by a
manufacturer;
(xiii) To take any retaliatory action against a
distributor that files a complaint regarding an alleged
violation by the manufacturer of state or federal law or an
administrative rule;
(xiv) To require or prohibit without good cause any
change in the manager or successor manager of any distributor
who has been approved by the manufacturer as of the effective
date of this act. Should a distributor change an approved
manager or successor manager, a manufacturer shall not require
or prohibit the change unless the person fails to meet the
reasonable standards for similarly situated distributors of the
manufacturer;
(xv) To sell or supply any brand or brand extension
of malt beverages in this state to a licensed wholesaler other
than the licensed wholesaler designated as the exclusive
wholesaler for a specific territory for such brand or brand
extension by the supplier in a written agreement, except that
nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit a supplier from
providing malt beverages to consumers in an area on such
supplier's premises designated as a hospitality area, or from
participating in consumer sampling or taste testing programs of
brands of malt beverages not sold to licensed wholesalers in
this state, or from otherwise operating as permitted by law;
(xvi) To require for any reason that a wholesaler
purchase one (1) or more brands of malt beverages in order for
the wholesaler to purchase another brand or brands of malt
beverages.
(b) It shall be a violation of this act for a distributor,
partner, shareholder or officer or agent thereof to have the
right to sell, transfer or assign the management or control
ownership of greater than ten percent (10%) of a distributorship
without the written consent of the manufacturer, except that the
consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. No manufacturer
shall unreasonably withhold or delay its approval of any
assignment, sale or transfer of the stock of a distributor or of
all or any portion of a distributor's assets, distributor's
voting stock, the voting stock of any parent corporation or the
beneficial ownership or control of any other entity owning or
controlling a distributor, including the distributor's rights
and obligations under the terms of an agreement, whenever the
person to be substituted meets reasonable qualifications. For
purposes of this subsection, "unreasonably withhold or delay"
means a period in excess of ninety (90) days after receipt by
the manufacturer of all information reasonably required from the
wholesaler and purchaser. Upon the death or disability of one
(1) of the officers, partners or stockholder of greater than ten
percent (10%) ownership of a corporate distributorship operating
the business of a distributor, no manufacturer shall deny the
surviving officers, partners of the partnership or stockholders
of the distributorship, the right to become a successor-in-
interest to the agreement between the manufacturer and the
distributorship, provided that the survivor has been active in
the management of the distributor's business and is otherwise
capable of carrying on the business of the distributorship.
However, upon the death of a distributor, no manufacturer shall
deny approval for any transfer of ownership to a designated
member of the family of an owner of a distributorship, provided,
that the subsequent transfer of ownership by the designated
member shall thereafter be subject to the provisions of this
subsection.