Jihee Ahn

Jihee is an experienced complex commercial litigator in Harris Sliwoski’s Portland and Los Angeles offices. She represents clients in business, intellectual property, and real estate matters. Having worked extensively in both federal and state courts, Jihee advises her clients from case intake through arbitration and trial.

rico

Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of RICO Claims Relating to Cannabis

Well, it looks like cannabis RICO lawsuits are not going to happen any time soon. As an update to this post I wrote in 2020, the Ninth Circuit has just affirmed the dismissal of two RICO claims brought by a cannabis business owner. Background of Shulman v. Kaplan As a quick recap, Plaintiff Francine Shulman

trademark infringement

Edible Arrangements v. Green Thumb Industries: Voluntary Dismissal, For Now

We regularly cover intellectual property disputes on the blog, and the Edible Arrangements v. Green Thumb Industries trademark infringement case is one we covered two years ago when filed. Since then, this case appears to have been moderately active, with the parties engaging in the usual discovery and related motion practice. However, things did take

safe banking act

Will the Senate Ever Do Anything with the SAFE Banking Act?

As we’ve written about over the past several years, there have been consistent rallying cries for common-sense banking reform for the cannabis industry. The SAFE Banking Act, which would allow federally regulated financial institutions to work with state-legal cannabis businesses, has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives a whopping seven times. However, the

california cannabis false advertising

California Cannabis Company Hit With False Advertising Claims

We’ve anticipated this for a while, but a recent lawsuit indicates that certain marijuana company mislabeling antics are getting called out, regarding false advertising. One recent lawsuit heralds a potential new wave of litigation. The lawsuit The plaintiffs are two California consumers who sued a California marijuana company, DreamFields Brands, Inc. and Med for America

cannabis arbitration

Cannabis Arbitration Provisions: the Injunctive Relief Carve-Out

We’ve written plenty about cannabis arbitrations before, and why these proceedings may make more sense for your situation (see links at the bottom of this post!). But when you need fast, injunctive relief, a prior agreement to arbitrate can potentially be disastrous. Arbitration is much slower than other litigation to get started — even though

stock promotion scheme

SEC Targets Cannabis Industry Stock Promotion Scheme

It looks like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has its eye on the cannabis industry and specifically stock promotion schemes. Last month, the Commission announced charges against two cannabis companies and associated individuals for their involvement in “a fraudulent scheme to promote the securities.” The companies at issue are Elegance Brands Inc., Emerald Health

customs

Court of International Trade OKs “Drug Paraphernalia” Import to Washington

The U.S. Court of International Trade (“CIT”) issued a recent opinion that indicates the import or export of “drug paraphernalia” to or from states where cannabis is legal represents an exception to the federal ban imposed by the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”). Under 21 U.S.C. § 863(d), “drug paraphernalia” is broadly defined as: any equipment,

tcpa

TCPA Litigation: An Update

What is the TCPA again? For years past, we regularly counseled our clients about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) because the cannabis industry, like many others, were being targeted for TCPA violations which were sometimes legitimate, sometimes not. For those who are still unfamiliar, the TCPA is a federal statute that was passed in

cannabis litigation

Cannabis Litigation: Mediation Tips

Our litigation team regularly attends mediations both before a lawsuit is filed and while a lawsuit is pending. We’ve covered mediation in the past, but for those who are unfamiliar, mediation is essentially a conference in which parties sit down together, generally with a neutral third party, to see if they can resolve cannabis litigation

illegality defense cannabis litigation

Cannabis Litigation: The Illegality Defense and Damages

Around this time last year, my colleague, Jesse Mondry, wrote about a District of Colorado case, entitled Sensoria, LLC et al. v. Kaweske, et al. , which involved a group of plaintiffs who sought to recover their investment in a cannabis business, Clover Top Holdings. The underlying set of facts involve an all-too-familiar cannabis investment