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A judge dissolved a Riverside injunction to shut down a medical marijuana dispensary in the city, agreeing that current law makes local government closures of the clinics unconstitutional.
Attorneys representing the city said they will immediately appeal, and the ruling got it wrong on the law. One called the ruling "mind boggling."
The decision by Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Vineyard on Wednesday, Aug, 22, affects only The Closet Patient Care dispensary on Elizabeth Street in Riverside.
James De Aguilera, who filed the original court action for the clinic, said Vineyard's ruling sets a precedent for other dispensaries in the city that also face an injunction to close them.
De Aguilera was suspended from practicing law by the California State Bar as of Aug. 15, and did not argue the matter on Wednesday. The 90-day suspension, detailed on the Bar's web site, was not related to the clinic case.
Riverside City Attorney Greg Priamos said the city will immediately appeal.
He said there are about a dozen clinics in the city that are open and fighting injunctions to close; the city has successfully shut down about three dozen.
The city's writ to overturn Vineyard's decision will go to the same 4th District Court of Appeal division that last November upheld Riverside's right to ban medical marijuana clinics in the city.
"We believe the trial court decided wrongly and the Court of Appeal will see the issue differently," Priamos said.
De Aguilera said Closet Patient Care is one of those that remained open while it fought the injunction since January. A call to one of the dispensary's owners was not immediately returned.
Vineyard's ruling regarding a clinic in the city of Riverside comes a few weeks after another judge ruled Riverside County's ban on medical marijuana clinics could not be enforced.
That decision by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Ronald Taylor affected 21 clinics.
Both rulings stem from the shifting legal landscape over medical marijuana dispensaries in California.
In November 2011 the Fourth District Appellate Court, Division Two, whose jurisdiction includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties, ruled in a published decision that local governments can ban medical marijuana clinics. The ruling specifically upheld Riverside's ban.
The California Supreme Court later decided to review that ruling.
De Aguilera contended Wednesday that the Fourth District's ruling was vacated for review, and a July ruling from an appellate court based in Los Angeles County now has precedent. That published decision said local government bans of dispensaries are unconstitutional.
"That's how the law is evolving here; it's come full circle," De Aguilera said. "The house of cards is falling."
Attorney Jeff Dunn of Best Best & Krieger, who represents Riverside in the case, said the claim about the Fourth District ruling being vacated is false.
"They're dead wrong. Our court of appeal, the one that matters, has already ruled that this ban is valid, is legal. It doesn't make any difference what any other court of appeal has decided," Dunn said.
And, Dunn said, the ruling has not been vacated. "It is still valid...it is still in place. The decision is under review, but it has not been overturned. The California Supreme Court has denied every request to stay the City of Riverside's ban," Dunn said.
"Every trial court has to follow its own court of appeal," he said of Wednesday's decision, "and this one didn't. That's why it was mind-boggling."
State laws authorize medical marijuana use through the 1996 Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 215) and the Legislature's Medical Marijuana Program.
In recent years local governments have begun to take action on the clinics, with an estimated 225 cities and counties voting to ban them in some way.
And in the past 15 months the federal government has begun to take civil action against landlords of buildings that house dispensaries, threatening them with civil forfeiture. The letters to landlords note that marijuana remains an illegal drug under federal law.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: pe.com
Author: Richard DeAtley
Contact: About Us | PE.com - Press-Enterprise
Website: RIVERSIDE: Judge says city can
Attorneys representing the city said they will immediately appeal, and the ruling got it wrong on the law. One called the ruling "mind boggling."
The decision by Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Vineyard on Wednesday, Aug, 22, affects only The Closet Patient Care dispensary on Elizabeth Street in Riverside.
James De Aguilera, who filed the original court action for the clinic, said Vineyard's ruling sets a precedent for other dispensaries in the city that also face an injunction to close them.
De Aguilera was suspended from practicing law by the California State Bar as of Aug. 15, and did not argue the matter on Wednesday. The 90-day suspension, detailed on the Bar's web site, was not related to the clinic case.
Riverside City Attorney Greg Priamos said the city will immediately appeal.
He said there are about a dozen clinics in the city that are open and fighting injunctions to close; the city has successfully shut down about three dozen.
The city's writ to overturn Vineyard's decision will go to the same 4th District Court of Appeal division that last November upheld Riverside's right to ban medical marijuana clinics in the city.
"We believe the trial court decided wrongly and the Court of Appeal will see the issue differently," Priamos said.
De Aguilera said Closet Patient Care is one of those that remained open while it fought the injunction since January. A call to one of the dispensary's owners was not immediately returned.
Vineyard's ruling regarding a clinic in the city of Riverside comes a few weeks after another judge ruled Riverside County's ban on medical marijuana clinics could not be enforced.
That decision by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Ronald Taylor affected 21 clinics.
Both rulings stem from the shifting legal landscape over medical marijuana dispensaries in California.
In November 2011 the Fourth District Appellate Court, Division Two, whose jurisdiction includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties, ruled in a published decision that local governments can ban medical marijuana clinics. The ruling specifically upheld Riverside's ban.
The California Supreme Court later decided to review that ruling.
De Aguilera contended Wednesday that the Fourth District's ruling was vacated for review, and a July ruling from an appellate court based in Los Angeles County now has precedent. That published decision said local government bans of dispensaries are unconstitutional.
"That's how the law is evolving here; it's come full circle," De Aguilera said. "The house of cards is falling."
Attorney Jeff Dunn of Best Best & Krieger, who represents Riverside in the case, said the claim about the Fourth District ruling being vacated is false.
"They're dead wrong. Our court of appeal, the one that matters, has already ruled that this ban is valid, is legal. It doesn't make any difference what any other court of appeal has decided," Dunn said.
And, Dunn said, the ruling has not been vacated. "It is still valid...it is still in place. The decision is under review, but it has not been overturned. The California Supreme Court has denied every request to stay the City of Riverside's ban," Dunn said.
"Every trial court has to follow its own court of appeal," he said of Wednesday's decision, "and this one didn't. That's why it was mind-boggling."
State laws authorize medical marijuana use through the 1996 Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 215) and the Legislature's Medical Marijuana Program.
In recent years local governments have begun to take action on the clinics, with an estimated 225 cities and counties voting to ban them in some way.
And in the past 15 months the federal government has begun to take civil action against landlords of buildings that house dispensaries, threatening them with civil forfeiture. The letters to landlords note that marijuana remains an illegal drug under federal law.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: pe.com
Author: Richard DeAtley
Contact: About Us | PE.com - Press-Enterprise
Website: RIVERSIDE: Judge says city can
