Coors Brewing Co. v. Stroh

In Coors Brewing Co. v. Stroh (2001) 86 Cal.App.4th 768, a brewery sought to invalidate rule 106, which prohibits the use of sweepstakes to award premiums exceeding $ 0.25 in connection with the sale or distribution of beer. The brewery alleged that cash prizes are not premiums, and therefore rule 106 was invalid because it exceeded the scope of the Department's rulemaking authority. (Coors, supra, 86 Cal.App.4th at p. 771.) Thus, the issue in Coors was whether a cash sweepstakes winning is a premium within the meaning of section 25600. (Id. at pp. 776.) Coors held the term "premium" in section 25600 encompasses the prizes awarded in a sweepstakes, and therefore rule 106, which prohibits premiums given by way of sweepstakes, is consistent with its enabling legislation. (Coors, supra, 86 Cal.App.4th at pp. 776-778.) Coors had no occasion to consider the outer limits of the meaning of "premium" as used in section 25600, and asserted that it was sufficient to conclude that the section encompassed prizes to be awarded in sweepstakes. (Id. at p. 778, fn. 5.)