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MEDICAL MARIJUANA CIVIL LAWSUIT WILL BE FILED IN SUPERIOR COURT AGAINST MENDOCINO COUNTY SUPERVISORS AND SHERIFF FOR VIOLATIONS OF STATUTORY AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.
PRESS CONFERENCE WITH LAWYERS AND PLAINTIFFS WILL TAKE PLACE FRI SEPT 11, 10:30 AM, AT UKIAH COURTHOUSE.
A civil lawsuit on behalf of medical marijuana patients challenging MCC 9.31, the Medical Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance, and its enforcement mechanism, MCC 8.75, will be filed in Superior Court Friday Sept 11, followed by a press conference on the steps of the Ukiah Courthouse at 10:30 AM. Named defendants are the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Tom Allman.
The lawsuit, represented by Attorneys Edie Lerman and J. David Nick, is being filed on behalf of five medical marijuana patients--Jim Hill, Trelanie Hill, Andrea Nagy, Marta Nagy, and Sally Pringle. It calls for declaratory relief and a preliminary and permanent injunction to stop the enforcement of the ordinance based on it being unconstitutional on its face and as applied.
Attorney Edie Lerman stated, "This case is desperately needed by the medical cannabis community to support the constitutional and civil rights being trampled on by 9.31."
Attorney J. David Nick said, "This litigation must be brought because these ordinances are preempted by state law. The County ordinance is a wish list for what they believe State legislation should have looked like."
Known as 'the 25 plants per parcel law', in effect since February 2008, the ordinance is unconstitutional for the following reasons:
1) The cultivation of more that 25 marijuana plants on any legal parcel either inside or outside, regardless of location or size of the parcel, is deemed a Public Nuisance. This contradicts state law, which places no limits on the number of plants a qualified patient or primary caregiver may cultivate, so long as the marijuana is reasonably related to the patient's medical needs.
2) The ordinance attempts to amend the 1996 Compassionate Use Act, in violation of the California Constitution which requires voter approval for changes in a voter initiative.
3) The ordinance attempts to set arbitrary limits on the number of plants an association of qualified patients organized collectively or cooperatively can maintain on any one single parcel of land.
4) Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman and/or his agents under the policies and practices of the County Sheriff's Office have seized and destroyed property in violation of state law.
5) The ordinance conflicts with California Civil Code 3482 which proclaims that acts done under the authority of State law cannot be deemed a nuisance.
For more information, call the Law Offices of Edie Lerman and J. David Nick at 707-937-1711 and 468-8300.
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