Posted on 10/21/2003 11:01:19 AM PDT by Lurking Libertarian
Judge drops one suit brought by Bessinger Federal ruling gives grocers right not to stock his sauce By CLIF LeBLANC Staff Writer
Barbecue king Maurice Bessinger’s lawsuit against grocery chains that pulled his sauce from their shelves because of his views on race and religion took a hit Monday, but he vows to continue the fight.
Bessinger’s suit against four of the nine chains was dismissed by Chief U.S. District Judge Joe Anderson. Most of the five remaining suits are in state courts.
Bessinger contends the chains unfairly removed bottles of his mustard-based barbecue sauce because he flies the Confederate battle flag at his 12 Midlands restaurants and sells products that claim a biblical justification for slavery.
Anderson ruled Bessinger’s suit against Sam’s, Wal-Mart, Food Lion and Winn-Dixie lacks enough merit to go any further. A suit against Harris Teeter remains in federal court.
Bessinger declined comment after the hearing at the USC law school.
But his attorney, Glen LaForce of Hilton Head, said he will ask the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Anderson.
Bessinger claimed in his $50 million suit that the nine chains violated the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act and his First Amendment right to free speech.
He did not have written contracts to sell his sauce, so there are no contract disputes.
Bessinger had sold his sauce in some of the chains for as long as 30 years. When they pulled the bottles from their shelves in late 2000, his business income dropped 55 percent, Bessinger told a reporter that year.
Business fell off after The State newspaper reported on the items Bessinger sold in his main store and headquarters in West Columbia.
Monday, that location was selling books with titles such as: “The South Was Right,” “Myths of American Slavery,” “Shakedown, Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson,” and a pamphlet that purports to document President Lincoln’s “hypocrisy, treachery and intrigue.”
Attorneys for the grocery chains argued in court Monday that the First Amendment also protects their clients’ rights to choose what they sell.
“They can say whatever they want to say or fly any flag they want,’’ said Virginia attorney Cheryl Falvey, representing Food Lion. “What they’re attempting to do is make us sell their product.”
Ray Moore, representingSam’s and Wal-Mart, agreed.
His clients made “a business decision who not to associate with,” Moore said. “Why did they do it? So as not to offend their customers. And they have a business prerogative to do that.”
Don Cockrill, representing Winn-Dixie, said businesses have every right to refuse to carry any product.
“I have an absolute right not to deal with someone regardless of the reason.”
If Bessinger were correct, he would be required to continue selling to customers who wore T-shirts proclaiming “Robert E. Lee was a coward,” said Cockrill, of Greenville.
Furthermore, Cockrill said, the Dixie Chicks did not sue stores or radio stations that turned against them after they criticized President Bush for the war against Iraq.
He dismissed Bessinger’s claim as absurd.
The bottles of sauce do not bear a Confederate flag or any controversial message, LaForce noted. Yet, the chains stopped sales before they knew whether customers would not buy it.
LaForce argued that if the chains win, they will have established an “offensiveness meter” for their suppliers.
“Food stores should not be in the business of worrying about what their suppliers think,” LaForce said.
“We don’t care if the president of the pickle company believes that aliens have landed. Are the pickles good?”
Anderson told LaForce he was starting down a slippery slope.
What if customers boycotted a store because they did not like the owner’s politics, the judge asked. Would it be fair for the owner to sue the customers?
Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664 or cleblanc@thestate.com.
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Is that right? What about the whole lunch counter thing? Maybe freedom of association only works one way.
On the flipside, I visit Maurice's every time I'm in town and I buy his sauce, which was introduced to me by this controversy.
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