Cannabis

  • March 04, 2024

    Smoke Shop Worker Says Planet Zong Didn't Pay Full Wages

    A former worker for Arizona's Planet Zong smoke and vape shop is suing the company, saying that it misclassified him as an independent contractor when he was an employee, and didn't pay him minimum wage and overtime as required under federal law.

  • March 01, 2024

    Cannabis Consulting Co. Says Clinic Owes $101K On Contract

    A laboratory and consulting firm that focuses on the cannabis industry alleged that a Michigan clinic owes the firm more than $100,000 for unpaid services, according to a lawsuit filed in Colorado federal court.

  • March 01, 2024

    5th Circ. Accepts Miss. Medical Pot Co. Ad Ban Lawsuit

    A Mississippi medical marijuana dispensary is taking its fight to upend a state law banning medical cannabis advertising to the Fifth Circuit, asking the appeals court to review a federal judge's decision to toss its First Amendment claims.

  • March 01, 2024

    Ariz. Senate Passes Bill For Psilocybin Treatment Centers

    Arizona clinics could treat certain kinds of mental health issues with psilocybin mushrooms as early as 2026, after the state Senate passed a bipartisan bill allowing for facilities to secure licenses.

  • March 01, 2024

    Investment Co. Ordered To Follow Wage Suit Settlement

    An investment advisory company must abide by a settlement previously approved by a New York federal court to resolve a former employee's unpaid wage claims, a federal judge has ruled.

  • February 29, 2024

    Pot Co. Says Neighbor Let Transient Grow Pot And Cause Fire

    A Los Angeles County cannabis entrepreneur is suing owners of a neighboring property whose building caught fire, allegedly due to an illicit grow operation run by "the local transient," sending smoke and soot into the legal cultivation facility, causing the total loss of his inventory and some $10 million worth of damages.

  • February 29, 2024

    Pot Biz Founder Says Co. Runners Must Renew License

    A cannabis entrepreneur is asking a Los Angeles judge to order the two men she says "hijacked" her business to renew its cannabis license with the city, saying that at a recent hearing they incorrectly said that their bid to transfer the license to another location had already effected the renewal.

  • February 29, 2024

    NC Says Court Blocked From Philip Morris Franchise Tax Row

    The North Carolina Department of Revenue is urging the state Supreme Court to uphold a loss for Philip Morris in the agency's fight to fetch more than $300,000 in franchise tax from the tobacco giant, arguing that state law forbids an administrative court from contemplating the constitutionality of tax law.

  • February 28, 2024

    Calif. Judge Denies Ethics Complaint Of Drugs, Antisemitism

    A California state judge categorically denied an ethics complaint accusing him of using a cannabis oil vape pen, pantomiming "something similar to a lap dance" on a woman married to a local public defender and repeatedly calling another public defender an antisemitic slur during a camping trip.

  • February 28, 2024

    Tilray Can't Get Exec's $4M Arbitration Award Tossed

    Cannabis company Tilray Brands Inc. can't evade a nearly $4 million arbitration award to a former executive it fired, a federal judge ruled, saying the company's arguments for why the Washington district court should have jurisdiction over a Minnesota arbitration are "wrong on all counts."

  • February 28, 2024

    Suit Blames Father-Son Mismanagement For Pot Co. Collapse

    A member of a Colorado cannabis cultivation and dispensary business is asking a state district court to appoint a receiver over the company, saying a father and son involved have mismanaged the company by buying unlicensed cannabis plants and failing to prepare a processing facility.

  • February 28, 2024

    Delayed Filing Dooms Bid To Block Maryland Pot Licenses

    A Maryland federal judge has denied a cannabis entrepreneur's bid to block the state's social equity license lottery, saying her delay in filing both her suit and the motion for an injunction outweighs the harm she'll suffer from the lottery going ahead.

  • February 27, 2024

    10th Circ. Backs FDA E-Cigarettes Marketing Denial

    The Tenth Circuit on Tuesday upheld the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's denials of two companies' applications to market flavored e-cigarettes, rejecting their argument that the agency secretly planned to reject any applications without long-term studies.

  • February 27, 2024

    Vape Supplier Asks 9th Circ. To Toss $892K Award

    A vape company that supplies products for use with cannabis is asking the Ninth Circuit to overturn a district court decision affirming an $892,000 arbitration award against it in a distributor's contract dispute, saying the district court ignored evidence of fraud.

  • February 27, 2024

    NJ Town Residents Say Cannabis Laws Violate Federal Law

    A group of residents of Highland Park, New Jersey, are suing the town, aiming to overturn town ordinances allowing for the sale and distribution of cannabis, saying they are in conflict with the federal Controlled Substances Act and state law.

  • February 26, 2024

    Altria Unit Drops Suit Against Dozens Of Vape Makers

    Altria Group Inc. subsidiary NJOY has quietly dropped a California federal lawsuit accusing more than 30 vape product makers of breaking state and federal laws by selling flavored tobacco products that are forbidden in the Golden State.

  • February 26, 2024

    UK Photog Drops Copyright Claims Against Cannabis Co.

    A photographer who accused a cannabis licensing firm of using his image of the Empire State Building to push sales without his say-so has quietly dropped his copyright suit in New York federal court.

  • February 26, 2024

    Vape Wholesaler TM Dispute Booted From Illinois Court

    An Illinois federal judge on Monday dismissed a trademark dispute between HS Wholesale Ltd. and HS Global Distribution LLC, saying HS Global doesn't have sufficient contact with the state for the court to have jurisdiction over the claims.

  • February 23, 2024

    Tribal Biz Atty Must Meet Calif. DA Over Greenhouse Wreckage

    A California federal judge has ordered the lawyer for a business owned by a tribal conglomerate to attend a hearing with San Bernardino County's district attorney, saying the lawyer must explain why he forced the DA to file a unilateral status report about the destruction of illegal cannabis greenhouses.

  • February 23, 2024

    Cannabis Workers Say Co. Imposed Quotas, Didn't Pay Up

    California cannabis company Glass House Brands Inc. and a number of its subsidiaries were hit with a proposed class action suit Tuesday claiming it bilked workers out of sick pay, minimum wage and lunch breaks and that it illegally enforced quotas.

  • February 23, 2024

    Tobacco Cos. Look To Nix COPD Suit Decades After Diagnosis

    Tobacco companies R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris asked a Massachusetts state judge on Friday to end a wrongful death lawsuit brought decades after a woman's COPD diagnosis and nearly three years after her death, pointing to a state high court ruling last summer that affirmed strict time limits for such claims.

  • February 23, 2024

    NY Clerk Defends Barring Felons From Juries In Dismissal Bid

    New York County's commissioner of jurors has urged a federal judge to dismiss a Black public defender's racial bias suit challenging the Manhattan court system's exclusion of people with felony convictions from juries, arguing the attorney fails to allege the exclusion was applied with a discriminatory motive or in a discriminatory way.

  • February 23, 2024

    Judge Bars Convicted Hemp Co. Exec From Securities Trade

    A Manhattan federal judge has barred a hemp company executive from participating in securities trade, after the executive was convicted of fraud and as a suit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging he schemed to misappropriate $1.8 million in investor funds remains pending.

  • February 23, 2024

    Vaping Co. Attys Get $86K Fees For Contract Suit Win

    A Los Angeles judge has awarded $86,334 in fees to attorneys for Germany-based Vaping360 GMBH following the company's $821,040 trial win in a contract dispute over website commissions.

  • February 23, 2024

    Pot Rescheduling Could Spur Inventory Accounting Change

    If cannabis is reclassified to a lower tier under the Controlled Substances Act, it would unlock significant tax benefits for cannabis companies, such as allowing them to take standard business deductions, but they may need to account for their inventories differently to take full advantage.

Expert Analysis

  • NYC Cannabis Landlord Accountability Law Has Limitations

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    A recently passed bill in New York City, aiming to crack down on the illegal cannabis market by levying fines against landlords who knowingly lease to unlicensed sellers, contains loopholes that may potentially limit the bill’s impact and lead to unintended consequences, say attorneys at Falcon Rappaport.

  • Perspectives

    Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice

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    Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.

  • Cannabis Cos. Must Heed PFAS Risks In Products, Packaging

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    Cannabis businesses and ancillary service providers will have to grapple with evolving PFAS enforcement, litigation and regulations – most recently enacted in Minnesota – and take steps to mitigate risks posed by forever chemicals in their products and packaging, say Malina Dumas and Amy Rubenstein at Dentons.

  • Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too

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    While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.

  • Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions

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    As practitioners continue to conduct depositions remotely in the post-pandemic world, these virtual environments are rife with opportunities for improper behavior such as witness coaching, scripted testimony and a general lack of civility — but there are methods to prevent and combat these behaviors, say Jennifer Gibbs and Bennett Moss at Zelle.

  • Employer Drug-Testing Policies Must Evolve With State Law

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    As multistate employers face ongoing challenges in drafting consistent marijuana testing policies due to the evolving patchwork of state laws, they should note some emerging patterns among local and state statutes to ensure compliance in different jurisdictions, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Blunders That Made 'Bakked' Cannabis TM Go Up In Smoke

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    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s recent denial of National Concessions Group’s application to register the mark “BAKKED” illustrates mistakes that cannabis companies must be wary of in pursuing federal registration as examiners may look beyond the four corners of an application, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Level Up Lawyers' Business Development With Gamification

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    With employee engagement at a 10-year low in the U.S., there are several gamification techniques marketing and business development teams at law firms can use to make generating new clients and matters more appealing to lawyers, says Heather McCullough at Society 54.

  • Mallory Ruling Leaves Personal Jurisdiction Deeply Unsettled

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    In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway, a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court recently rolled back key aspects of its 2017 opinion in Daimler AG v. Bauman that limited personal jurisdiction, leaving as many questions for businesses as it answers, say John Cerreta and James Rotondo at Day Pitney.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Compliance Updates In Q2

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    Among the most significant developments from last quarter, New York regulators and policymakers focused on advancing changes to the supervisory framework for banks after the failure of Signature Bank and continued efforts to keep the Empire State at the forefront of digital asset industry regulation, says Will Giles at Cravath.

  • NY, NJ Regs Give Clarity To Cannabis Investors, Ancillaries

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    Proposed laws and regulations in New York and New Jersey would clarify some previously murky legal waters, thus expanding the ability of investors, lenders and ancillary service providers to work with marijuana business in these states, say David Waxman and Heidi Urness at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • 5 Ways Firms Can Rethink Office Design In A Hybrid World

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    As workplaces across the country adapt to flexible work, law firms must prioritize individuality, amenities and technology in office design, says Kristin Cerutti at Nelson Worldwide.

  • New Law Will Upend Washington's CBD Industry

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    Though many questions remain on a Washington law set to go into effect this month that will require retailers to obtain licensure to sell federally legal CBD, the statute’s economic impacts are sure to be enormous, says Jack Scrantom at Harris Bricken.

  • Opinion

    Bar Score Is Best Hiring Metric Post-Affirmative Action

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down affirmative action admissions policies, law firms looking to foster diversity in hiring should view an applicant's Multistate Bar Examination score as the best metric of legal ability — over law school name or GPA, says attorney Alice Griffin.

  • FDA Trends Show Compliance Priorities For Supplement Cos.

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    Several recent developments at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration affecting dietary supplements provide practical insight into why companies should focus their compliance and risk management operations on the fundamentals, says Nicholas Diamond at Jackson Walker.

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