A juicy complaint came over the wires that reads like the set up to a novel. Young careers dashed by a tangled web weaved by allegedly corrupt agents of the storied and venerated institutions of the wine world.
If you’re not familiar, a Sommelier is a professional wine “steward” of a collection, (mostly at restaurants) who is supposed to be a sage professor the qualities of the wines held in possession. The organization called Master’s Sommelier Court is an organization that dubs an average laboring Sommelier into the knighthood of “Master Sommelier”, which is supposed to endow the title bearer with an almost guaranteed career at the finest establishments.
This month, a group of students who had supposedly passed the high bar to become Master Sommeliers, only to have it yanked away due to an internal investigation of cheating during the examination process; filed a lawsuit in US Northern California District Court. The lawsuit alleges that it was not the plaintiffs who cheated, but rather, a different student cohort who had conspired with a corrupt official within the court; and the institution chose to hold ‘sham investigations & proceedings’ to save the reputation of the organization, and use the plaintiffs as “fall-guys”.
While filed legal complaints are usually dry, this one reads like a fine glass of wine.
When explaining why the plaintiffs were so damaged by this scandal, the complaint lays out expected average salaries of sommeliers at different levels.
“A level one introductory sommelier can expect to make around $50,000 in salary;
level two certified sommelier around $70,000; level three advanced sommelier around $80,000
and master sommeliers tend to make over $150,000 per year.”
The complaint goes on to lay out a number of legal arguments as to why the Sommelier’s court acted unfairly.
What do the plaintiffs want? The whole bottle.
They did not specify an amount, but listed a number of varied demands. Yet-to-be-determined amounts for breach of contract, and other breaches. In our outside opinion, they will likely try to aim for more than $75,000 per person. It also asks for punitive damages for alleged violations of laws like Unfair Competition Laws.
It asks for a number of declarations by the court involving trademarks, including an aggressive move to revoke Trademarks held by the grape juice court. Finally, it seeks reimbursement for legal and attorney fees. All in all, they may potentially hope for over $100,000 in damages. The case is still brand new… in it’s unripened stage. There is no way to know what will happen yet, but if you wish to follow along, send us an email to let us know!
