Wal-Mart is taking Texas to court over alcohol sales
HOUSTON—Wal-Mart's court fight to sell liquor at its stores in Texas looks to be back on track, but the courtroom is getting crowded.
A federal appeals court is allowing a trade group representing liquor store operators to join a stalled federal lawsuit that the nation's largest retailer filed against the Texas agency that hands out permits to sell booze by the bottle. In trying to crack Texas' restrictions on package liquor licenses, some dating to the end of Prohibition, Wal-Mart contends that some of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's rules amount to unconstitutional discrimination.
Austin-based U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman had set the suit for trial next month, but everything stopped in May when the Texas Package Stores Association, representing about 2,500 existing liquor store retailers, got a green light from an appeals court to move forward with challenging Pitman's refusal to let them intervene on the side of the beverage commission.
A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Pitman's ruling last week and let the association join the lawsuit, saying the trade group had a "protectable interest that may be impaired or injured" in the outcome. Pitman now must set a new trial date.
Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/texas/story/2016/aug/28/wal-mart-taking-texas-court-over-alcohol-sales/637787/
