Ex parte BTC Wholesale Distributors, Inc. Arhaan, LLC Birmingham Wholesale, LLC City Wholesale, Inc. and the H.T…

Summary

The court granted the mandamus petition in part, requiring the trial court to permit evidence concerning the defendants' justification and competitor's privilege defenses and PepsiCo's Transshipment Enforcement Program. It upheld exclusion of the defendants' antitrust or illegality defense during the jury-trial portion because that defense concerned only the requested injunction, which would be decided by the trial court, although the court left admissibility for the injunction proceedings to the trial court's discretion. The court held that justification and competitor's privilege ordinarily present jury questions and that the Transshipment Enforcement Program was relevant to both liability-related factors and damages. No separate opinions are included in the record provided.