Ard Dr. Pepper Bottling Co. v. Dr. Pepper Co.
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
202 F.2d 372 (1953)

- Written by Jayme Weber, JD
Facts
Ard Dr. Pepper Bottling Co. (Ard) (plaintiff) got a license to bottle Dr. Pepper soda from the Dr. Pepper Co. (Dr. Pepper) (defendant). Under the licensing contract, Ard agreed to bottle Dr. Pepper using modern, mechanical, sanitary equipment. Ard also agreed to promote Dr. Pepper sales and to increase sales to the extent Dr. Pepper required. The agreement contained a termination clause allowing Dr. Pepper to terminate the contract if Ard violated any of the contract’s terms. The termination clause stated that Dr. Pepper’s good-faith determination of whether Ard had violated any term would control. Twelve years after Ard and Dr. Pepper entered the license agreement, Dr. Pepper terminated the agreement because: (1) Ard’s bottling equipment was no longer up to Dr. Pepper’s modern, mechanical, and sanitary requirement standards, and (2) Ard had failed to promote Dr. Pepper sales and to increase sales to the extent Dr. Pepper required. Ard sued Dr. Pepper for breach of contract. Dr. Pepper argued that it had terminated Ard’s license in good faith and with good reason. Ard admitted that it had not spent money on advertising for a couple of years because it had needed the money to keep up the bottling equipment. There was evidence that the water Ard used to bottle Dr. Pepper had bacteria in it, a problem Ard could have affordably fixed. The trial court ruled in favor of Dr. Pepper. Ard appealed, arguing that a jury should have determined whether Ard’s performance was satisfactory.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rives, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 814,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.