RIZE attorney says plaintiffs aren't signing pot settlement

MENOMINEE — “See you in court.”

That was basically the message from a cannabis attorney to the defendants in a lawsuit and the City of Menominee.

Michael Cox, the attorney for RIZE, told the EagleHerald there is no marijuana settlement agreement and RIZE is perfectly content to let the matter play out in court.

The City Council on Monday approved a settlement agreement by a 7-2 vote. However, the plaintiffs, RIZE, The Fire Station, Adam Michaud and the Committee To Stop Unlimited Marijuana Shops must sign the agreement, as do the intervening defendants, Attitude Wellness/Lume, OI Holdings/Higher Love, NU Group/Nirvana, Rocky North/GreenPharm and Highwire Farms.

“We always knew our case would be one decided by the Court of Appeals,” Cox said in an email. “That is still the case. By design, the Court of Appeals is largely removed from local issues: the Court of Appeals will enforce the law as written. That is why we will not settle unless the rules are fair and just — just like when we won our licenses.”

Cox had another message.

“Forget the hype and the outright fictions, the case is not over and will not be until the Court of Appeals rules sometime in 2025 (or the Supreme Court in 2026).” he said.

Following Monday’s council meeting, Menominee Mayor Casey Hoffman said the lawsuits “were destined to fail” and “like a good janitor” he was cleaning up the marijuana mess.

“What the Mayor and others told you is fiction,” Cox wrote. “We have not agreed to any settlement and because we are the plaintiffs there can be no settlement without us.”

Cox said that RIZE has been trying to reach a settlement with the city since early January. He said in January, the city’s attorney (Matt Cross) told them there was a deal with the City Council, but when the vote came up at a public hearing, the intervening defendants — Lume, Higher Love and others (who were not sued but requested to become part of the lawsuit) — objected and several City Council members backtracked from what they previously told the city’s attorney.

“We just want to do business in a stable and fair environment where the rules apply equally to everyone,” Cox wrote. “So we kept negotiating.”

He said in the early afternoon on Monday, the lawyer for Higher Love sent two brand new proposals for settlement. He said both were recycled ideas that RIZE had already rejected.

“We rejected those at 2:30 p.m. EST after getting a chance to read them,” Cox stated. “No one told us that one of those was going to be presented to the City Council that night. No one.”

He said the plaintiffs were shocked that there had been a council vote — especially on a proposal that was not accepted.

“You can’t have a settlement that the Plaintiffs do not accept. The law does not work that way, even on TV,” Cox wrote.

The case is scheduled before judge Mary B. Barglind Tuesday in Menominee County Circuit Court.