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Craft-brewery advocates tell committee House Bill 194 would free small brewers to negotiate distribution contracts
Summary
Witnesses including a lawyer for craft breweries and brewery owners told the House Judiciary Committee that Ohio's Alcoholic Beverages Franchise Act locks small breweries into near-permanent distribution relationships, and they urged passage of House Bill 194 to allow negotiated contracts and greater competition.
Adam Armstrong, an attorney who represents craft breweries, and multiple brewery owners testified Oct. 12 before the Ohio House Judiciary Committee in support of House Bill 194, which would exempt smaller breweries from portions of Ohio's Alcoholic Beverages Franchise Act and allow them to negotiate distribution contracts under ordinary contract law.
Armstrong said Ohio's franchise law, enacted in 1974, functions as an adhesion contract that can bind a brewery to a distributor in perpetuity if a distributor handles a brewery's product for 90 days or more without a written agreement. He told the committee that the statute places the burden on a brewery to prove "just cause" in court to terminate a…
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