LAKEPORT — A judge Monday ruled that the plaintiffs in a pending lawsuit challenging the county”s urgency marijuana law could not proceed using two of its three original arguments but said the preliminary injunction remained in effect.
“The court finds that under applicable substantive law, there is no reasonable possibility that the defects to the first two causes of action can be cured,” Judge Arthur H. Mann stated in a written decision.
The County Counsel”s Office, which represents defendants Sheriff Frank Rivero and the county of Lake, challenged the sufficiency of all three causes of actions outlined by the plaintiffs.
The judge found in the county”s favor with regard to the plaintiffs” arguments that the urgency ordinance was an unconstitutional amendment of the Compassionate Use Act and that the ordinance conflicted with and was preempted by state law.
As a result, those causes of action are “out of the complaint permanently,” according to County Counsel Anita Grant.
Mann, an assigned retired judge, overruled the county”s challenge to the third cause of action — that the qualified growers had a vested right to cultivate — and left the preliminary injunction ordered by another Lake County judge in effect.
“You now have a second judge in Lake County who has determined that this ordinance is unconstitutional as applied this year,” Bay Area attorney Joe Elford said.
Elford represents the plaintiffs, Don Merrill and three people known in the case as “Doe.”
They sued the county and the sheriff after the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) adopted the urgency medical marijuana cultivation law in early July.
The temporary regulations limited the number of marijuana plants allowed for outdoor cultivation as well as banned commercial growing and cultivating on vacant lands.
In mid-August, Lake County Superior Court Judge David W. Herrick granted a limited preliminary injunction in the case until Jan. 1.
Herrick said that people growing marijuana in conformance with state law at the time the county adopted its ordinance should be protected from having their current year”s crop destroyed under the new regulations.
Days after Herrick”s decision, the BOS voted to extend the temporary law for an additional 22 months and 15 days.
Elford said Wednesday the plaintiffs had not decided whether to pursue a permanent injunction.
Jeremy Walsh is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 263-5636, ext. 37 or jwalsh@record-bee.com. Follow him on Twitter, @JeremyDWalsh.
