TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) — New Jersey Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced on June 12 that Hunterdon Brewing Company LLC will pay $2 million over allegations of trade practice violations.
According to the allegations, the company sold draft beer tap systems below fair market prices and then concealed additional charges by mislabeling them as “miscellaneous draft charges.”
“Fair market prices exist for a reason,” Porrino said. “The improper trade practices allegedly employed by Hunterdon Brewing threatened to disrupt competition and throw the wholesale industry into disarray. Consumers suffer when these laws and regulations are ignored. The division’s actions ensure that New Jersey consumers will continue to benefit from a stable alcoholic beverage industry.”
The $2 million fine will be split into four $500,000 increments over the next year. Porrino’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) handled the matter.
“Throughout its history, ABC has endeavored to create a level playing field that encourages fair, open and transparent competition,” Jonathan Orsen, acting director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said. “When a wholesaler utilizes discriminatory trade practices, competition among wholesalers is stifled and consumers lose the benefits which open competition provides.”