Retail Digital Network v. Appelsmith

RDN filed suit challenging the constitutionality of California Business and Professions Code Section 25503(f)–(h), which forbids manufacturers and wholesalers of alcoholic beverages from giving anything of value to retailers for advertising their alcoholic products. Sorrell v. IMS Health, Inc., requires heightened judicial scrutiny of content-based restrictions on non-misleading commercial speech regarding lawful products, rather than the intermediate scrutiny applied to section 25503 in Actmedia, Inc. v. Stroh. Accordingly, the court concluded that Actmedia is clearly irreconcilable with Sorrell. The court therefore reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the State and remanded on an open record for the district court to apply heightened judicial scrutiny in the first instance. View "Retail Digital Network v. Appelsmith" on Justia Law