The fight between ABC warehouse manager Ruan Transport and several liquor stores is moving to federal court.
Calistoga Wine & Spirits sued Ruan in Madison County Circuit Court last week, claiming damages after the implosion of the ABC warehouse. Three Gulf Coast package stores, Buckshots, Aloha Wine & Spirits, and Rosetti's Liquor Barrel filed identical lawsuits against Ruan Transport in Harrison County Circuit Court last month. Their complaints charged Ruan with breach of contract, negligence, and unjust enrichment as they claimed damages for lost sales.
Ruan Transport shut the warehouse down for a week in early January to take inventory. With the warehouse closed, Ruan replaced the software and conveyor belt systems. The software was not tested and did not communicate with ABC's MARS software. Ruan replaced the conveyor system with a pick a pallet system. The result was a total meltdown as shipping times skyrocketed from 48 hours to nearly a month as Ruan shipped less than 50% of cases ordered for a month, crippling casinos, restaurants, and package store owners alike.
Ruan filed a notice of removal in U.S. District Court Thursday. As Ruan is an Iowa corporation, it stated the Court has jurisdiction over the case due to diversity and the damages over $75,000.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves and Magistrate Andrew Harris. Attorneys Tim Porter and Michael Casano represent all four plaintiffs. Matthew McDade and Matthew Warren of Balch & Bingham royalty represent Ruan.
Synopsis of Complaints
The complaints accuse Ruan of incompetence and neglect:
17. In early January 2026, the ABC warehouse underwent a planned shutdown for annual inventory. During this period, Ruan implemented a new software management system (warehouse management system, or ""WMS""). 18. The new software system implemented by Ruan was not compatible with the existing conveyor belt system used to load delivery trucks at the warehouse.
19. As a direct result of this incompatibility, three of the four conveyor belt lines at the warehouse were removed from service. The software contractor responsible for providing support for the conveyor belt system ceased providing those services.
20. Rather than having a functional contingency plan in place, Ruan reverted the warehouse to a dramatically slower manual ""pick and pallet"" system for loading trucks. This resulted in a massive and ongoing reduction in the warehouse's throughput capacity.21. As of the February 17-18, 2026 legislative hearing, the warehouse had accumulated a backlog of approximately 199,000 unshipped cases of alcoholic beverages. As of March 1, 2026, that number was estimated to be in excess of 220,000 unshipped cases.22. It is anticipated through legislative oversight testimony that the backlog would not be reduced by half until March 2026 at the earliest, and would not be fully resolved until May 2026.
The plaintiffs describe how they suffered because Ruan could not (allegedly) get its act together. Ruan shipped product within 1-3 days of placing an order but "beginning in early January 2026", the plaintiffs orders placed through the MARS ordering system were not fulfilled or were only partially fulfilled while delayed for several weeks.
MARS is the ABC's software for its ordering system. Ruan installed the Blue Yonder software at the warehouse without beta testing. It was discovered after it was too late that Blue Yonder could not communicate with MARS. No communications means no orders are taken. No orders taken means no orders shipped.
The meltdown at the warehouse crippled liquor stores, restaurants, and casinos whether big or small. Mardi Gras should have been Christmas season for the Gulf Coast package stores but instead turned into a nightmare:
25. Accordingly, store inventory was significantly diminished during seasonal peak times such as Mardi Gras, leaving partially empty shelves and a lack on the most commonly purchased retail items.26. In February 2026, the ABC warehouse stopped accepting incoming product causing a complete lack of availability of staple retail items for the Plaintiff’s store.
The delays cost the plaintiffs revenue, profits, and customers as they often drove to Louisiana or Alabama to buy what was no longer available in Mississippi.
The complaint charges Ruan with breach of contract, negligence, and unjust enrichment.
13 comments:
Reeves will rule in favor of Ruan.
The state lost considerable tax revenue from this poor business decision also. Shad should get our money from them also.
This is why I am glad I live on the Gulf Coast (among other reasons). It is just a short drive to AL and/or LA, and most everyone knows someone going to New Orleans on a fairly regular basis. Let's have 👍👍 for Martin's.
Looks like the federal government will have to take over the state of Mississippi like it did after the Civil War. How fun?!
Citizen's Arrest! Citizens Arrest!
Meanwhile, I’ve had zero issues buying THC edibles from the local legal hemp THC shops. Really neat!
When a defendant removes a case to federal court it’s usually a bad sign for plaintiffs - in this case the defendant drew reeves and I promise you they’d rather be in state court.
I'll drink to that.
Speaking of Reeves, I'm thinking about the one named Tate who has stood by and let this disaster grow and grow.
While the rest of the country laughs.
Mississippi probably couldn't even run a lemonade stand.
Tater is too busy partying with Amazon exec$.
At this point, it's clear to ME, that little about this situation is accidental. There is an end goal (and probably a cluster of ancillary goals, such as the bankrupting of small retailers of booze), and there is a reward system (to pay the quislings, and to guarantee silence, later-on).
I'm guessing that if we saw the whole picture, there'd be images of a recently-constructed palazzo on St. Charles Avenue (designed by a former Jackson architect, who's fled to Palm Beach and Belle Meade, Tennessee, and is now "Billionaires-only"). As I recall, the New Orleans Historic something-or-other, was systematically manipulated and bulldozed, in order that an historic and much-treasured Jewish apartment building might be bulldozed, in order that the palazzo might be built (proximity to the JCC being apparently important to the Owners: otherwise, they'd have built in Mandeville or English Turn, like everybody else). The city's better publications covered the ongoing saga, for years. And THAT saga reads about like THIS saga about the warehouse. That's why I'm making the connection.
But maybe I'm wrong, and it's the Bronfman Sisters or somebody (not that their influence has traditionally reached so far south).
Dr. Tess Lawrie's Pandemic Era poem/video, 'Mistakes Were NOT Made', could mostly be applied to this situation with the booze. The so-called "mistakes" are nothing but built-in PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY. Tess concludes with, "Don't let them get away with it. Don't let them get away with it. Don't let them get away with it."
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