MediLeaf directors embraced and heaved sighs of relief Tuesday
after a Santa Clara County superior court judge ruled that the
medical marijuana dispensary in Gilroy will remain open for
now.
ABOVE: A full tour of the dispensary, from check-in to selection of medical marijuana to sale.
MediLeaf directors embraced and heaved sighs of relief Tuesday after a Santa Clara County superior court judge ruled that the medical marijuana dispensary in Gilroy will remain open for now.
“We’re alive,” MediLeaf director Neil Forrest told the Dispatch minutes after the hearing, his voice shaking slightly after the Judge Kevin Murphy voiced his decision.
Murphy shut the door on the city’s first legal attempt to close down MediLeaf, which opened at 1321-B First St. last month between Rock Zone and Antdawg Universal Strength Headquarters at First Street and Westwood Drive without a business license.
Murphy rejected a preliminary injunction sought by the city that would have shut the dispensary’s doors until a trial determined its permanent fate.
After a nearly 45-minute hearing, the judge listed three reasons for not granting the injunction. First, he said the dispensary would not cause “irreparable harm” by staying open, adding that more harm would be done to MediLeaf’s business and its customers if it had to close. Secondly, he said it was not clear whether the city would prevail when the matter goes to trial. Finally, he said Gilroy’s City Council committed a Brown Act violation when it approved a resolution in closed session on Nov. 16 that allowed city attorneys to take legal action against the dispensary.
“I feel that the city of Gilroy is coming before this court with unclean hands given the violation of the Brown Act,” Murphy said.
Faber and MediLeaf attorneys James Roberts and James Anthony took turns forcefully yet calmly arguing about zoning laws and medical marijuana case precedents in the Southern California cities of Corona and Claremont as they made their cases.
Faber said the situation with medical marijuana dispensaries in Claremont and Corona were identical to Gilroy’s, and the courts granted those cities a preliminary injunction. MediLeaf directors knew they needed a business license, he said, which is why the directors applied for one twice and were denied both times. Still, they opted to open without city permission.
“You can’t simply open illegally and then say we are the status quo,” Faber said.
MediLeaf attorneys argued that the Corona case was completely different, as that city had a specific plan while Gilroy does not. Roberts contended that MediLeaf was a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, and as such it did not need a business license. The cannabis collective’s directors were merely trying to be cooperative when they tried to receive a business license.
“Being good neighbors is not the same thing as weakness,” Roberts said. “It is not the same thing as saying the law doesn’t exist.”
While MediLeaf directors and representatives from the medical cannabis advocacy group Americans for Safe Access rejoiced once the hearing ended, city attorneys Andy Faber and Linda Callon were taken aback by Murphy’s decision, particularly his declaration that the city had violated the Brown Act.
“I was very surprised,” Callon said.
Faber, who argued the City of Gilroy’s case before the judge, said after the hearing that the city was in full compliance with the state law during the Nov. 16 closed session that was in question. Three of the seven council members boycotted that session. Perry Woodward, Peter Arellano and Craig Gartman said they believed the resolution that was approved should have been agendized and that council members should have publicly discussed zoning and licensing issues pertaining to MediLeaf.
Gilroy Councilman Bob Dillon, who attended the hearing along with Councilman Craig Gartman, said he was puzzled that Murphy concluded that the city had violated the Brown Act.
“I’ve been sitting on the council for seven years, and I know what (a Brown Act violation) looks like,” he said.
Gartman, one of the three council members who boycotted the Nov. 16 closed session and who supported creating an ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, said he felt Brown Act issues were completely unrelated to issues surrounding the dispensary itself.
Forrest and MediLeaf director Batzi Kuburovich both appeared relieved after the hearing. Forrest said he was glad to learn that MediLeaf’s arguments would receive a full hearing.
“We’ve been forced to have an adversarial role with the city, but I’ve never seen ourselves as adversaries,” Forrest said.
On the other hand, director Batzi Kuburovich was more pointed in his comments.
“It sounds like the city slighted us, and now they’re going to be called to answer,” he said.
