Great Barrington — At the beginning of the Selectboard meeting on Monday, July 8, the board met in executive session to discuss the lawsuit against the town from several marijuana dispensaries: Theory Wellness, Community Growth Partners (a.k.a. Rebelle), Highminded LLC (a.k.a. Farnsworth), and D2N2 LLC (a.k.a. Calyx). The board did not take any action pertaining to the lawsuits when they came out of the 30-minute executive session.
Back in early March, Theory Wellness, Community Growth Partners, and Highminded LLC all filed a joint lawsuit against the town over its Host Community Agreements. The lawsuit was filed in Middlesex Superior Court.
In late February, through a letter from attorney David Rich with Todd & Weld LLP of Boston, marijuana establishments Theory Wellness and Community Growth Partners threatened to sue the town over the previously signed Host Community Agreements. The companies demanded that the town return over $5 million that they paid the town over the years as part of the agreements.
In his letter, Rich claims that both companies were “… forced to tender to the town millions of dollars in unlawful Community Impact Fees, legal fees and additional costs, payments, and reimbursements.” Rich also claims that the town “… is unjustifiably refusing to negotiate or enter into new HCAs, ones which comply with the actual requirements of Massachusetts law, with either of my clients until such time as each pays the town additional unlawful fees. The town’s conditioning its willingness to enter into a new, legally compliant HCA upon the requirement that my clients make patently illegal payments to the town is extortionate in fact, and reflects yet another violation of their legal rights.”
In a statement posted on the town’s website, Town Manager Mark Pruhenski shot back at the dispensaries, stating, “[The HCAs] were willingly entered into when the businesses approached the town in connection with their requests for a license to operate from the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.”
“A Host Community Agreement was a requirement to obtain a license from the state,” Pruhenski wrote. “The town did not suggest or in any way require that these businesses seek to locate and operate in Great Barrington; they did so by their own determination that the town would be a favorable place to engage in the sale of marijuana products. By most, if not all, accounts, their operations have been financially rewarding.”
Pruhenski writes that, under the HCAs, the companies previously agreed to the amount of the community impact fees and a payment schedule for the fees.
Theory Wellness, Community Growth Partners, and Highminded LLC all entered into a lawsuit against the town on March 14, with the companies demanding a jury trial.
On April 25, Town Counsel David Doneski, an attorney from Boston law firm KP Law, P.C., filed a response to the legal complaints, denying the allegations made by the companies. Doneski also filed a counterclaim against the three companies. In the counterclaim, Doneski wrote that the three companies breached their HCAs, and that because of the breach, the town has suffered damages. However, he did not specify the type or extent of damages the town has allegedly suffered.
Doneski finishes his counterclaim demanding that the three companies compensate the town for damages and expenses resulting from the breaches of the HCAs, along with interest, costs of litigation, and attorney fees.
On May 17, the attorney for the three companies, David Rich from Boston law firm Todd & Weld LLP, filed a motion to have the counterclaims dismissed.
As of press time on Friday, July 12, no further dates in the case have been scheduled.
Meanwhile, D2N2 LLC’s lawsuit against the town, which was filed separately from the other three companies in Berkshire County Superior Court, also continues to wind its way through the legal system. D2N2 LLC’s lawsuit was filed against both the town and Selectboard Chair Stephen Bannon. In this case, both the town and Bannon are represented by Nicole Costanzo of KP Law, P.C. of Boston, while D2N2 LLC is represented by Kristin Yasenka of Yasenka Law of Portsmouth, N.H., along with Thomas MacMillan, from MacMillan Law offices of Bradford.
Back on April 26, Costanzo filed a counterclaim demanding judgment against D2N2 LLC along with damages and expenses for the company’s alleged breach of its Host Community Agreement.
On May 7, MacMillan and Yasenka filed a response denying the town’s claims.
As of press time, no further dates have been scheduled in the case.
