The nation’s largest medical marijuana dispensary, which is battling to keep two Bay Area sites operating, has won a victory in state court.
Last summer, federal prosecutors filed civil forfeiture actions against Harborside Health Center’s landlords in Oakland and San Jose -- a move aimed at pressuring the buildings’ owners to evict. And the landlords moved to do just that.
But Harborside challenged the evictions in state court, noting that its leases explicitly stated how the premises would be used.
In a ruling last week, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo tossed out the Oakland eviction, noting that landlord Ana Chretien could not seek relief in state court for Harborside’s alleged violations of federal drug law.
“To impose the harsher remedy of declaring a lease terminated and authorizing the sheriff to evict a tenant would be to improperly enforce federal criminal law,” Grillo wrote. The judge also pointed out that the Oakland lease authorized Harborside “to use the premises for the exact purpose -- i.e. distributing medical marijuana -- that Plaintiff now deems ‘unlawful’ … Thus, at least at first blush, Plaintiff arguably contractually waived … any legal right she had” to ask the court to terminate the lease under state law for that reason.”
