E.F. Transit, Inc. v. Cook

Remand was required for Dist. Ct. to consider merits of plaintiff’s lawsuit seeking declaration that Indiana’s statute that prohibited entities from being both beer and liquor wholesalers was preempted by Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act. Dist. Ct. dismissed plaintiff’s lawsuit as unripe, where plaintiff had broken off proposed business relationship with liquor wholesaler, after Indiana Commission had failed to provide definitive ruling as to whether said proposed relationship with liquor wholesaler violated instant prohibited-interest statute based on plaintiff’s shared ownership interest in third-party-beer wholesaler. However, while instant appeal of dismissal was pending, Indiana Supreme Court found in separate litigation that plaintiff’s shared ownership in beer wholesaler was sufficient for plaintiff to be treated as beer wholesaler for purposes of Indiana’s prohibited-interest laws. As such, plaintiff’s lawsuit was ripe for consideration by Dist. Ct., where plaintiff now faced standing threat of prosecution under prohibited-interest statute arising out of proposed business relationship due to ruling by Indiana Supreme Court.