The Gallo brothers raised their younger brother after their parents' murder-suicide, then sued him for using the family name

On June 21, 1933, Joseph Gallo Sr. shot his wife Susie and then himself on their California farm. Their sons Ernest and Julio founded E. & J. Gallo Winery that year and became guardians of their 13-year-old brother Joseph. The winery became the largest in the United States. Joseph built a dairy and cattle business and in the 1980s began selling cheese as "Joseph Gallo." In April 1986 Ernest and Julio sued him for trademark infringement. Joseph counterclaimed that he had inherited one third of the winery from their parents, so the Gallo name and the trademarks were partly his. The counterclaims were dismissed in 1988. In June 1989 a federal judge in the Eastern District of California barred Joseph from using GALLO as a trademark on retail cheese. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in 1992 but left him free to use "Joseph Gallo Farms" as a trade name. The brothers did not reconcile^†. The winery remains owned by Ernest's and Julio's descendants in 2026^†.