Lawsuits

Hightimes Holding Corp. chairman Adam Levin has agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud charges involving undisclosed payments to promote the company’s stock. According to the charges, Levin participated in a scheme to pay over $150,000 to an investment newsletter analyst who promoted the stock without disclosing the compensation.

A man who is an admitted cannabis novice is suing the Arcanna dispensary in Portland, Oregon after he purchased a THC-infused syrup from the shop that landed him in the emergency room after experiencing excessive vomiting and loss of motor control.

A group of New York cannabis dispensary owners are suing state regulators, claiming they allowed dispensaries to open too close to one another in violation of state laws.

The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals confirmed that Alabama regulators had “properly exercised” their power when rescinding medical cannabis licenses awarded under the state’s initial cannabis licensing round.

One of the plaintiffs in the recently dismissed lawsuit that aimed to invalidate the petitions behind Nebraska’s successful medical cannabis legalization effort has filed another suit seeking to block the reforms.

A Minnesota judge blocked the state’s cannabis social equity license lottery this week in light of several lawsuits filed by applicants whose applications were denied last week.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this week filed a lawsuit against the city of Dallas over the city’s new, voter-backed cannabis decriminalization policy.

Seven cannabis transportation companies in Illinois are suing the state Department of Agriculture claiming the agency’s licensing process favors larger, white- and male-owned companies.

An attorney for New Mexico cannabis company NNK Equity LLC says the company will sue the state after police seized and destroyed tens of thousands of pounds of cannabis. The authorities, however, say the seizure was lawfully executed against a noncompliant cannabis operator.

The owner of a Texas smoke shop was awarded a settlement of $80,000 from the Garza County Sheriff’s Office and the city of Post following an “illegal” raid in February that seized more than $20,000 worth of legal hemp products.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of eight licensed New Mexico cannabis operators alleges that federal agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs & Border Protection unlawfully seized state-legal cannabis products and cash, violating the companies’ Fifth Amendment right to due process.

A Montgomery Circuit judge in Alabama has appointed a mediator to help resolve the legal dispute over the state’s attempts to license integrated operators for its long-embattled medical cannabis program.

A California judge last week ruled that the state’s emergency regulations restricting the sale of intoxicating hemp products can continue, blocking a legal challenge brought by hemp companies.

A judge in Lancaster County, Nebraska is allowing parts of a lawsuit that challenges the state’s two petitions to legalize medical cannabis to move forward.

One of the companies suing the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission asked a judge to toss all three of the agency’s attempts to award integrated cannabis licenses and to declare the regulators’ appeal process void.

A former Nebraska state senator has filed a lawsuit to invalidate two medical cannabis petitions — one to legalize medical cannabis and one to regulate the industry — that were approved for November ballots earlier this month.

Legal battles are delaying Alabama’s medical cannabis rollout, leaving thousands of patients in limbo as both regulators and licensees push for court approval to start operations.

A lawsuit filed this week in New York on behalf of three licensed hemp retailers is accusing the state’s cannabis officials of “trampling” on their constitutional rights by conducting “military-style raids” as part of their crackdown on the sale of illegal cannabis products.

A federal judge in Wyoming recently dismissed the lawsuit challenging a state-wide ban on intoxicating hemp products. The suit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought back to the court.

Alabama regulators last week approved two new cannabis cultivation licenses as the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission considers options for unblocking the lawsuit-laden industry.

A federal judge has denied an injunction brought by a group of hemp companies against the Iowa law regulating hemp products and imposing THC caps on the products.

New Iowa hemp regulations restricting the sale and potency of consumable hemp products took effect on Wednesday. The rules are in place despite a federal lawsuit brought by a group of hemp companies seeking to block it.

A lawsuit filed this week in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming is challenging the recently passed state law banning hemp-derived cannabinoids including delta-8 THC, claiming the law violates the federal Farm Bill.

A group of Iowa hemp companies is suing to block the implementation of a new state law restricting THC content in consumable hemp products.