MENOMINEE — The marijuana legal battle continues as Higher Love has filed a motion to reverse the orders made in court by Judge Mary Barglind on April 25.
In 41st Circuit Court in April, she granted the first two motions from the plaintiffs — Rize, The Fire Station and the ballot committee — for a summary disposition of Higher Love and Lume’s countercomplaint.
She also denied Lume’s motion for discovery protocol.
The biggest takeaways from the court proceedings were that the judge said there was nothing wrong with allowing unlimited marijuana licenses and that the companies fighting against The Fire Station, Rize and the ballot committee didn’t prove enough in court to claim that they were preserving their duopoly and abusing the legal process.
COUNT ONEDuring Barglind’s ruling last month, she dove into each count during a 45-minute summary with all attorneys present from numerous marijuana companies.
Count one, which was Higher Love’s countercomplaint, alleged that the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act did not authorize municipalities to authorize unlimited marijuana establishment licenses.
Barglind said the language of the statutes she read in court was clear. The laws could limit or prohibit marijuana establishments, but they don’t say they have to do one or the other. They have the power to do one or the other — or do nothing.
“In that event, under my reading of the statute of its entirety, there would be no limit,” Barglind said. “My plain reading of MRTMA…there is nothing that prohibits a municipality from allowing an unlimited number of establishments.”
She said the MRTMA issue was appropriate for judicial determination despite its political nature. Therefore, she granted the summary disposition.
“The arguments of the plaintiffs here are not frivolous,” Barglind said.
COUNT TWOFor count two, Barglind also granted a summary disposition of Lume’s countercomplaint on behalf of Rize, The Fire Station and the ballot committee.
She said she used the same standard of review as with the first count.
Lume’s complaints included damage to their business and conspiracy charges. Barglind said their allegations didn’t sufficiently meet all the elements to claim that.
“There is no pleading connecting those alleged acts with any breach or termination of a relationship,” Barglind said.
The only relationship that would meet requirements is the resulting situation where some of the businesses, including Higher Love, were stopped from selling marijuana, Barglind said.
Even then, Barglind said, the temporary closure of a few marijuana businesses was done after a court hearing and for proper cause. The complaints in court didn’t relate to that stoppage.
“The lawsuit that has been filed against plaintiffs here has merit and cannot be claimed as a baseless and/or vindictive lawsuit,” Barglind said. “The lawsuit claims have merit.”
Barglind said neither the city nor other marijuana companies joined Lume’s motion.
“It can be colored in as many different colors as Lume wants to give it,” Barglind said.
Still, she said that nothing pleaded in court rose to show an abuse of process.
“The arguments that the process is being abused to preserve their duopoly… is insufficient,” Barglind said.
COUNT THREE
For the third count, Kevin Blair, attorney for Lume, said the plaintiffs were wasting the court’s time. He said it was becoming difficult to find enough time to obtain the information needed for court proceedings.
Barglind denied Lume’s motion for discovery protocol.
“I would not modify my ruling in discovery in any way,” Barglind said. “That motion is denied.”
The lawsuit continues.
“There is nothing illegal, unethical or fraudulent about filing a lawsuit or asserting a legal right, whether meritless or not,” Barglind said.
The next court date is Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Menominee County Courthouse.
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