RICO claims in the cannabis industry have certainly evolved over the years, but the general trend of the Courts dismissing those claims or cases altogether has held fast. In Shulman, et al. v. Kaplan, et al., a case filed in the Central District of California, the plaintiffs – who are involved in the production, marketing, and
We’ve been monitoring and reporting on the growing trend of investment and securities fraud litigation in the cannabis industry, and this week brings yet another case. In Murray v. Camp, et al., Murray is suing three Washington entities and their principals for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, fraud, and violation of the Securities Act of
Keeping up with the multitude of (shifting) state and municipal cannabis regulations is a daunting task for any multi-state cannabis operator. One well-known tool for doing so has been CannaRegs, which offers a web-based subscription service to aggregate and organize cannabis rules, regulations, and legislation. In January 2020, CannaRegs was acquired by Fyllo, “a digital
Last summer I wrote about a ruling by the Second Circuit concerning a lawsuit filed by five persons challenging marijuana’s status as a schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”). The lawsuit asked the federal courts to rule that marijuana’s status as a schedule I drug is unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause
In the most basic terms, offering fraud occurs when a person (or entity) makes material misrepresentations or omissions to potential investors in a new company (most commonly, promising those investors large “guaranteed” returns on their investments). Offering fraud cases have become more prominent in recent years, and it looks like the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Even before COVID-19 entered our lives, it was clear that more and more businesses were realizing the importance of engaging with consumers online. Now, as most are forced to limit their in-person activities or shut them down altogether, we are seeing an even sharper trend in businesses investing in their online presence – especially with
Our last update on the first-ever cannabis patent case, United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) v. Pure Hemp Collective, Inc. (“Pure Hemp”) was back in July 2019. A lot has changed in the world since then (although the case was largely unremarkable), and the possible ending to this once-deemed “pivotal” case for the industry may now face
Colorado-based United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 22. Regular readers may recall that UCANN is the plaintiff in the first ever cannabis patent protection case which generally concerned liquid cannabinol formulations of a purified CBD and/or THC greater than 95%. That litigation is now stayed (paused) as a result
A couple of months ago I wrote a “Hemp/CBD litigation forecast.” (See here.) One topic of that post was the rise in class actions against Hemp-CBD companies and I noted the consumer class action complaint filed against JustCBD in the Southern District of Florida, Case No. 0:19-cv-62067-RS. The gravamen of the complaint is that JustCBD
Recently, Jonathan Bench wrote about the importance of insurance coverage for your hemp or recreational marijuana business. His first article provided the basic anatomy of such policies and his second discussed the importance of product liability insurance. This post highlights recent litigation in which insurance is at issue, or ought to be. Hemp insurer seeks
