Save MIA - Legal Fund to fight Lawsuit

MIA Beer Company is a craft brewery in Miami. We are in a legal battle for our survival from our beer distributor, Cavalier Beer. They are using Florida's Franchise Law to prevent us from selling our beer in Florida.

Florida is supposed to be a pro-business state. Yet Florida is one of the few remaining states to have the post-prohibition Franchise Law. This law only applies to breweries and it was originally meant to help protect small beer distributors from large breweries like Budweiser and Coors. The distributors needed this law in case their brewery left them. Otherwise, they would be left with virtually no inventory.

There were no small craft breweries when this law was enacted. Today there are over 400 small independently owned breweries in Florida. Unfortunately, the Franchise Law is now used by distributors that have become very large and politically powerful. They don't want to change this law because it allows them to collect and control all the small breweries like trading cards.

Once a brewery is with a distributor they are bound together legally for life. The only way a brewery can be released from its contract is if the brewery either pays a large arbitrary sum of money to the distributor or if they find another distributor that will pay its ransom.

There is only one way a brewery can terminate a distribution contract without paying a high cost and that is if the distributor doesn't follow the clear rules set by the onerous law. If the distributor breaches the contract the brewery can request a "corrective action plan" to cure the issue. The distributor then has 30 days to respond with a simple plan which can state virtually anything.

In our case, our sales had been dropping steadily since 2018. No matter what we did or said our sales kept dropping even though the beer market at the time was steadily growing in the double digits. By the end of 2021 and after the industry recovered from COVID 19, our overall beer sales had dropped to almost 70% of our 2017 high point.

The continuous drop in sales became unsustainable so we asked Cavalier for a corrective action plan to help bring our numbers back to a higher level. Keep in mind that the franchise law requires the distributor to make an honest effort to sell our beer and to maintain sales. Cavalier didn't even give us the courtesy of responding to multiple written requests for the plan. After the 30 days passed we were legally allowed to terminate as per Florida statutes.

Cavalier is in denial that Florida law allows us to terminate our distribution agreement so they are suing us and claiming that WE are the ones in breach. Keep in mind that a Florida brewery can also choose to not sell beer. So what are we in breach of?

Cavalier had also filed a motion to prevent us from signing on with a new distributor. This put the negotiations we were having with potential new distributors on hold. This is what brought our beer production and sales to a screeching halt. However, this past December at the hearing for their motion they lost. Their motion was denied because the judge stated that Cavalier is highly unlikely to win at trial. But, we still can't select a new distributor for fear of dragging them into the legal fight.

MIA Beer Company is essentially stuck. Until we resolve our lawsuit, we cannot sell beer in the Florida market. We can't even find investors or get bank loans because of the huge liability that the lawsuit has created.

Does it make sense that a Florida business that does everything by the book can be sued and brought to the edge of bankruptcy because a distributor is abusing an outdated law? It will be virtually impossible for MIA to make it to our scheduled trial in December if we don't receive some sort of help. Sadly, if we can't make it to trial, not only does Miami lose its oldest independently owned brewery, Cavalier will win the case, receive their claimed "damages", and the franchise law will live on and continue hurting other Florida breweries.

Please help us make a stand and win at trial. This case is not just about MIA, the future of all Florida breweries depends on us to win and bring a much-needed change. 100% of all funds received will be used for our legal defense.

If you cannot donate at this time, please reach out to your local state representative and express your support for the Freedom For Beer campaign by our Florida Brewers Guild and member breweries. Please visit www.FreedomForBeer.com for more information.

Thank you for your support!

Eddie Leon