Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Humboldt County’s Cannabis Abatement Process
Press release from the Institute for Justice. (Please remember that this is not neutral reporting but a press release from an interested party):
In a disheartening decision, on Friday evening a federal judge ruled in favor of Humboldt County and granted its motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice (IJ) on behalf of a group of property owners facing exorbitant fines. The lawsuit challenges the county’s unconstitutional code enforcement practices that have levied millions of dollars in fines against innocent landowners for minor code violations, many of which were committed by previous property owners, or not committed at all. In reaching his decision, the judge accepted as true many of the county’s factually incorrect statements. The Institute for Justice will immediately appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We are extremely frustrated by the decision,” said IJ Attorney Jared McClain. “The judge’s ruling disregards the constitutional rights of innocent property owners in Humboldt County, who have been unjustly subjected to exorbitant penalties for things they never did and then denied a hearing for years. We disagree with the court’s decision and will continue to fight for justice on appeal, ensuring that the rights of Humboldt County property owners are protected.”
The case began when four Humboldt County residents joined together with the Institute for Justice to file a class action lawsuit against the county, challenging its unconstitutional code enforcement regime. The county threatens innocent landowners with life-altering penalties, including millions of dollars in fines for minor code violations and actions taken by previous property owners. The county then delays the owners’ hearings indefinitely as it uses these extraordinary fines to pressure landowners into paying settlements or agreeing to grow marijuana commercially, further exacerbating the issue and infringing on property owners’ rights.
Losing a motion to dismiss, while disappointing, is nowhere near the end of the case. IJ will appeal the judge’s decision and continue to fight for the rights of innocent property owners in Humboldt County. The court’s ruling only serves to highlight the importance of standing up against unconstitutional practices and ensuring that the rights of individuals are protected.
The Institute for Justice will host a webinar on Tuesday, May [16th], at 6:30pm PDT to discuss what is next in the case and answer community questions. You can join at this link: https://ij-org.zoom.us/j/93498700163
Earlier:
- Punished for Another’s Crimes: Humboldt County Demands New Owners Destroy Any Unpermitted Building Used for Cannabis Cultivation
- ‘Buildings for Rich People’: Part Two of Punished for Another’s Crimes, a Look at the Ramifications of the Abatement Process
- Humboldt County Files a Motion to Dismiss the Institute for Justice’s Federal Class Action Lawsuit Against Its Cannabis Abatement Program
- The Pressure Is the Point’: The Institute for Justice Has Filed an Amended Complaint for the Lawsuit Against the Humboldt County Cannabis Abatement Program
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
14th was yesterday, Tuesday the 16th?
Why don’t property owners simply correct their code violations to avoid government abatement action, same as anyone in town must do when a legitimate code violation is cited?
because people in town do not get cited for violations that occurred 50 years ago. and the violations do not accrue fines into the millions of dollars. That is considered unconstitutional. These landowners are fighting for the same, not different, standards to apply to them.
The county also needs to give the landowners hearings in a timely manner, not keep accruing fines and not giving due process in te meantime.
there may be some merit to asking new owners to remediate ongoing sediment discharges or to regrade slopes so that they do not slide into streams during an earthquake, but the fines into the millions are not reasonable etc.
Liens and code issues should have been listed when the property changed hands. Assuming Title and Mortgage companies were involved?
At least according to some of the reporting it appears that the county chose not to post the abatement notice until shortly after the sale. So the title was clean through the sale
It also appears, that for a time, while the properties still had titles unclouded with the associated abatements, a possible affiliate with the County had a list of the “notice to abate” properties advertised, and possibly up for sale…
Those listings were swiftly taken down, about the time that it was discovered that the titles that were being transferred, on properties that were being sold, did not reflect the abatements, and about the time the titles were actually finally clouded with the relevant abatement information by the County.
Just a coincidence…???
Kind of a scam if you ask me…
The listings, by whom I would speculate would maybe be the entity that was going to eventually handle the lien sales, lacked legally required disclosures, and then suddenly, they just disappeared…
Sketchy, at best…
Sketchy at best indeed!
We need to rid our county bureaucracy of these sketchy (at best) sorts. They cost us millions in legal costs every year and delivery a lower quality of life to us residents in exchange
but yes, the point about the date is really important. seems the landowners may need more capable representation because in court, details like spelling and dates will get you thrown out of court. that may not seem reasonable, but it is in fact how it goes.
Maybe but isn’t it more like a building that would not have been approved was built without permits and used for growing? So that grow or no grow, a build that is unpermitable must be removed? That it is not a matter of guilt or innocence at all?
If the logic that holds a not permitted building or earthwork must become acceptable just because it was sold, it would make putting up buildings illegally quite a profitable business that would be laundered by selling.
Except unpermitted alterations and additions get built often in town and sold for big $$ and very few if any are concerned with more than the functional utility of the additions and alterations.
If its rural there is a very different rule and standard applied.
Good luck building an entire house in city limits and not getting in trouble
For buildings not used for cannabis you can retroactively permit the building for a fairly minor additional fee. Assuming the build meets code
The point was that it didn’t meet code. Still doesn’t meet code even after sold. Would not get a permit to build with no grow involved.
I’m not sure which case you’re talking about, but as far as I’ve gathered all of the parties to this suit were dealing with structures whose only issue was alleged use in the production of unlicensed cannabis
AAMOF all the properties had code violations aside from any previous cannabis activity. And according to the judge’s decision the new owners had “actual or constructive” notice of the code violations they were buying into.
I completely understand that people’s sympathies are with the Plaintiffs. But if you take the time to read and digest the judge’s decision you might see how the IJ lawsuit was not the slam dunk people hoped it would be.
It’s also obvious the law is not simply about who, what, where, when, why but has evolved into an incredibly complex matrix of opaque legalese and conflicting legal principles.
Putting those buildings up, permitted or not, resulted in significant property taxes being collected by the County.
A profitable business indeed…
Complicity, if you ask me…
The County was on the take all along, it’s not like they objected to the money, based on the fact that the structures were unpermitted, and unlikely to be approved.
One arm of the County definitely approved of the ill gotten money, and they took it willingly, knowing full well, what was going on…
Then another arm of the County, decided it wanted to collect money, in order to additionally profit…
Etc., Etc…
The County is turning into a veritable octopus, or giant Humboldt squid, with all of the associated arms and suction cups…
It’s out of control.
So if you bought a house in town, that had a garage, barn/building etc and someone grew/hung weed in there 10 years ago, you’d be happy to be threatened with fines and disassembly???
You can only use one user name per article. Please choose one and stick to it within this thread. Thank you.
Gotcha! Sorry…thanks Lisa
One has to wonder if this judge has connections with the county! There is no way any reasonable person would allow these outragious fines! I am furious!
When a government takes advantage of their power to dictatorship level practices – something is truley amiss Just because they have gotten away with this does NOT make it right. KEEP FIGHTING!!
Every person who has allowed this should be fired! We the people should not allow this kind of overstepping their power!
I agree. That old bumper sticker “If you’re not pissed off then you’re not paying attention”
Step up and start the process!
“When a government takes advantage of their power to dictatorship level practices – something is truley amis”
That is what governments due by nature. Liberals endlessly espouse more government. Then they are shocked by decisions like this. Liberalism is a mental disorder
then fire the property owners. property owners are ultimately responsible for every thing that happens on their property, from contracts made and not paid by tenants, injury to people and this. should have done their homework when they purchased.
…hard to do your “homework” when they keep making up the rules as they go and/or as they $ee fit…
i.e. Comment from below: (for those those choosing to do their homework)
When inspecting my relatives property in Rancho Sequoia it was cited for a grading violation that occurred 50 years ago. My relative has not been to the property in 23 years. How do you explain this?
Lack of due diligence when buying land?
Not one for the constitution?
My advice to Humboldt County: raise the fines to a million dollars a minute and start building a debtors’ prison with forced labor. They just legalized usury! Bring back the dark ages!
Why isn’t the judge’s name in this article? I think it is very important that we hold individual judges responsible for their decisions- especially when the decisions are…umm…based on lies that the judge can’t be bothered to even look at! This judge did not do their job that they are being paid LOTS of money in taxpayer money. I won’t say corrupt but I will say that if this judge is performing such a poor service then they should be held responsible and perhaps even fired/recalled. Yes- we need to keep an eye on our judges…
What lies? I admit the fines are egregious but the vast majority of code violations I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot) are real. And some of the damage is horrific.
From the article “ In reaching his decision, the judge accepted as true many of the county’s factually incorrect statements.” I changed “factually incorrect statements” to the common layman’s term of “Lies”. The county lied and the judge accepted those lies. I agree with you that many code violations result in horrific damage and that the weed growing was out of control. But the heavy-handed county abatement strategy caught up many innocent landowners and heavily fined them, refused them legal recourse….I know a couple people who were abated and fined because the county maps erroneously showed the grow as being on their property when it wasn’t. There were other mistakes made by the county and the civil fines they imposed were egregious and wrong.
Does anybody know the judge’s name? Let’s hear it out loud…
Apparently the county never went through with collecting fines from anybody which is why the case was dismissed according to Ed Denson, so it seems like the government was just harassing people, which is nothing new for government officials, especially the police. To me the verdict was expected, why would any court side with people from a low income county, that used to be the epicenter of illegal activity.
Hi Amy, just a heads up Ed did not say that.
Hundreds of people had fines imposed, over seven million in compliance agreement penalties alone last I checked, plus administrative fees of about a million by now is guess. However those people “settled” their cases and so are not a part of this class action, because their cases are closed . If IJ wins they could possibly sue for damages later if I understand correctly.
In this type of case it was necessary that the plaintiffs did not had fines imposed yet post the appeal hearing due to the claims being brought of I understand.
Ex Blu got his appeal after 4.5 years right before IJ filed so while he is very much a part of the case, though he is not in the same circumstance as the other plaintiffs or class because his case was suddenly closed. When I say suddenly I mean it because I worked on his case from the day he walked in the law office to immediately try to get an appeal in May 2018 and he never stopped requesting one but was denied for again, 4.5 years until right before IJ filed. He often expressed the impact of million hanging over his head and for years. I spoke with Rhonda as she lay in the hospital with doctors saying if she did not stop stressing about the abatement and the end of her low income housing dream for Orleans, that she may loose her eyesight permanently from shingles. The impacts on the retired Thomases who care for their disabled children has also been immense they said. Hundreds of thousands of unexpected costs is a lot for many retirees.
So the argument is essentially that the notice is the injury, particularly without probable cause, delayed hearings, the denial of permits during this time, in addition to the denial of their right to a jury trial (and more), which is said to be unconstitutional.
I’ve personally sat through the handfuls of appeal hearings held and read the Code Enforcement emails encouraging folks to pay compliance agreement fines because the county never looses the appeal and it’s true and it impacted people decisions. I also noticed a pattern of about 17% of the original fines finally being imposed at the appeal. Which is an incredible sum of money in many of these cases.
Rhonda and the Thomases are looking at nearly ten million in fines combined, hundreds of thousands in demolition and cannabis remediation expenses, tens of thousands in expert fees and its based on previous owners actions. They were all “innocent of the cannabis violations” which justified the 6-10k in daily fines per alleged violation. So basically The threat of over seven million in fines for Rhonda and the over one million for the Thomases is an injury in and of itself ED means (Correct me if I am wrong ED).
Has anyone challenged the legality of the fine amounts themselves? From what I understand these violations are most often violations of county or state ordinance, not misdemeanor or felony offenses, and from what I’ve found ordinance violations are generally capped at a $1000 maximum fine.
Am I way off base here? Seems like low hanging fruit and like the county program is absurdly illegal
Yes Nichole, the notice of nuisance and accompanying threats IS the injury. Ask anyone who has gotten one. I went to some meetings between the code enforcement people and their victims, and especially in the early days those meetings were brutal. Threat on top of threat, “you’re lucky we’re not charging more because we can” type of stuff. But that aside the threat of ballooning penalties, refusal to issue permits, and making your property basically unsaleable are immediate injuries that occur upon issue of the Notice of Nuisanace and accompanying “Proposed Adminstrative Penalties”. Perhaps the judge just moved here from a well governed community and that’s why he couldn’t believe what he was told.
A statement can be factually incorrect without being a lie
were you around during the Richard Henry days? and my follow up is: do you know why people flee to Florida?
You must mean Richard Hendry…
Or spell check got you…
https://m.northcoastjournal.com/humboldt/fear-in-the-hills/Content?oid=2126916
When inspecting my relatives property in Rancho Sequoia it was cited for a grading violation that occurred 50 years ago. My relative has not been to the property in 23 years. How do you explain this?
ROBERT M. ILLMAN was the United States Magistrate Judge who wrote this recent decision. We will have an article up asap.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Illman
Alabama….that kind of explains it. ?
??Kinda what I was thinking…?♂️?
When you post your article please include a link to the actual decision if you can. Thank you.
I always post the decisions Mr. (Or Ms.) Told, see the links below.
If you don’t mind I’d not only like to post the decision but to dive more deeply in the implications for the plaintiffs and the claims in laymen’s terms. This takes more than a day to digest and extrapolate as it is a 52 page dense legal decision, while I am not a lawyer. I did a lot of this work during Mother’s Day weekend, I woke up working on it too, but some things have since come up that need my attention immediately. I will still do all I can to finish the article over the weekend rest assured.
Yes he is a loco l magistrate
Robert M Illman
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/1:2022cv05725/401346
Seriously, though, what kind of a moron judge could think this is alright?
The outcome is disappointing to many, but not really surprising. The IJ failed to cite points and authorities to back up their claims of unconstitutionality. They also don’t understand the differences between criminal law and civil abatement procedures. Sympathy for the abatees blinded people to the weaknesses of the IJ lawsuit which was almost entirely rhetorical.
All lower courts are corrupt
#facts
Unconstitutional at best therefor null and void
The US Constitution is the Supreme law of the land.
Yeah… I wouldn’t just run with that…
After reading the judge’s Dismissal of the suit, I understand his reasoning to be “the county never actually carried through on its threats.” I think the best analogy to the fault in this logic is the law concerning assault and battery. Assault is the threat do attack you. Battery is actually doing it. So if the criminal gang says you need to pay them thousands of dollars now, or else they’ll raise the price to hundreds of thousands and send enforcers to get it, that’s a threat, not an action. The judge says. “You have to wait until they actually. beat you up, kidnap your kids, burn down your house, or murder you before you can sue them.” In this case he wants the case to wait until the county gets liens on the property for hundreds of thousand dollars and seizes it. Then you can contest it from your tent under the bridge in the homeless camp.
As for the judge’s name, it is public record. But no one should consider taking any extralegal action against him. His job is to make decisions. He made one. It’s wrong, but the recourse is not to harass him, but to appeal. Having an appeal against his decision won by the plaintiffs will be a mark on his record that will count against him should he wish to advance in his career.
Predatory “nuisance” abatement is a state wide problem. If the McKinleyville court decided the case and no one appealed, no other court would be bound by its decision.The advantage to having the appeal court make the decision is that their decision becomes binding throughout the 9th circuit’s jurisdiction which includes all of California, and also a number of nearby states as well.
Anyway, there was going to be an appeal no matter what. If the judge had allowed the case to proceed, the County would appeal. There’s too much at stake for either side to give up because of the McKinleyville court’s decision no matter what it is.
So, stay tuned.
If that was the reason the case was dismissed do you think it might me better for those that were affected by the abatement progam to sue individually for emotional trauma and distress? It seems like an appeals court would just say the same thing, if the county never collected on its threats then it would have to be about the emotional distress it caused.
Amendment VIIIExcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Was the lawsuit filed under the pretext that it was a violation of the 8th ammendment? If so, isn’t the word imposed good enough to qualify as a violation even if the fines “imposed” were not enforced…..yet?
The county’s defense, which this judge appears to have agreed with, was that the administrative process hasn’t been exhausted yet. In theory these landowners still have some potential recourse before it becomes a legal matter
Yes Rollin it sure was, the eighth amendment matter is a constitutional claim in this suit. IJ won unanimously on another eighth amendment related suit too (https://youtu.be/_FAQR8SLwEM). Seems their are some similarities, but I’m not a lawyer so we shall see.
Interesting video. I like how the state tries to claim that civil asset forfeiture is somehow NOT a fine or penalty. Nice try.
Thank you ED. I was hoping you would be weighing in ❤
An assault is an attempted battery, not a threat. I believe what the judge is saying is the case is premature. Perhaps the case was plead poorly. The constitutional argument I believe is the fine amounts are unconscionable as a matter of law.
Actually an assault is an act which raises a reasonable apprehension in someone that the assaulter will commit a battery on them. The assaulter needs to be able to batter but the assaulter need not actually intend to batter the victim. By analogy, the Code Enforcement issues a notice of violation together with a proposed administrative penalty. They have the ability to impose and collect the penalty. The notice is the assault, actually imposing the fine is the battery in this simile.
Ed Denson,
Wouldn’t an encumbrance, in the form of a lien, or a clouded title, be considered an injury…???
Yes, I would say so. Of course what we need is a judge that will say so.
Thanks, Ed! And it’s good to know the judge’s name. NOT to harass them- they’re a federal judge! But just to watch them, observe and record, document possible violations….just like you taught us in COG (Citizen Observation Group) training!
Welcome to the war on drugs IJ. Since the 1930s the U.S. has lied to the citizens of the plants qualities for Medicinal benefits. Knowingly scheduling the whole plant more dangerous than over the counter codine (on the lowest schedule for narcotics) which has killed more people than marijuana ever will. The reality is no one will succeed against the government when it comes to weed.
I thank you for the effort it was valiant and gave hope. At a minimum it was nice to be heard. Blessings for all that your organization has done.
If a case like this is dismissed it is most likely due to lack of evidence, which means even if they appeal it is most likely going to have the same outcome. The goverment has so many layers of bureaucracy and corruption, that there is most likely some obscure law that allows this type of actions, which is why they started doing it in the first place.
It’s actually not easy to sue the government and win, but this case is far from over. Eager to see what happens in the the ninth circuit court of appeals.
Bummer
Some of the plaintiffs were not even growing pot. One of the plaintiffs had a greenhouse full of
vegetables that suppplied his restaurant had never had pot in it. Other plaintiffs were also not growing pot, had no intention if growing pot, but unfortunately had bought land that had once had pot, and were hit with exorbitant fines for the clean up of a legacy logging roads and log decks from the 1950’s which the ca board of forestry approved and sanctioned back in the day. I encourage everyone to read Nicole Norris’s series of articles to find out what the class action lawsuit is actually about.
So again, the answer is do your research before you buy land. For all you know, it might have been where they stored Agent Orange or something.
Good advice, but useless to the Thomases and Rhonda because the notice of nuisance were actually filed AFTER they had bought the property. All the due diligence in the world could not have caught unissued notices still in progress.
Ed, didn’t the judge state in his decision that the Thomases and Rhonda had “actual or constructive notice” of the code violations? And since code violations go with the land they should have had some idea what they were buying into.
No disrespect to the judge, but that’s nonsense. The violations were not even filed when the property was bought. They were not in the public record. The Thomases, for instance, might have seen that the building on their property had been a grow house (BTW it is a separate building from their residence) but that would not tell them that the building itself was unpermitted. It looked like a barn, converted to grow house. I don’t believe due diligence requires asking if each building on the property is permitted. And the county had known of the violations for more than a year before posting the violation notice – in the name of the prior owner. As the prior owner reportedly was an eastern European,and returned home, there was no way to get money from him, but a new owner…..well there’s someone tied to the land. We can soak him.
Finally, the county had the authority to correct the violations themselves after the 10 day grace period expired, and to bill the costs to the owner. They never did this, they let the fines build up instead.
The judge was very clear that since none of the Plaintiffs has yet paid a fine, they lack standing to sue alleging the fines and fees are unconstitutionally excessive.
So do you think the judge was wrong on the law? Or that the law is wrong and the 9th circuit can remedy that?
If the plaintiff had gone through the proper procedure to permit his greenhouse in order to grow food for his restaurant, it wouldn’t be a problem. Sounds like he skipped a few steps and got the hammer. Bummer when that happens.
Where does your food come from? Do they just conjure it up at Wildberries?
Sounds like he is into the food source that comes off of other people’s tables.
That’s the primary source for government employees.
Assume. Makes an ass out of u and me.
Speak for yourself.
Getting an abatement for a high tunnel is bullshit.
“If only the guy was a bootlicker their wouldn’t have been a problem…”
Well, except for the nasty taste of that filthy, orange boot, that is…
And the fact that as soon as one person starts enthusiastically slurping on that greedy stinking boot, him, and the asshole that’s wearing it, starts to assume that everyone else should just rush to get in line…
No thanks.
I pay my property taxes, which they jack up every fucking year.
That should suffice.
Not really. If you are using your greenhouse for your business there are usually all sorts of permits involved. I have to submit a plan to the ag commission of exactly what crops I’m growing as well as how much I estimate that I am going to yield. The reason they do that is so you don’t import crops from somewhere and say that you grew them.
That has happened. They busted someone for bringing chemically grown crops up from the Central Valley and selling them at the farmer’s market under the guise that they were homegrown organic veggies. Pretty disingenuous if you ask me. No sense in getting nasty about it. The reason it is like this is because people have lied and done illegitimate things.
No sense getting nasty about and calling people names. Sounds like you may be one of those people who like doing illegitimate things and have ruined it for the rest of us. You think I enjoy having to pay all the extra fees because someone else has fucked it up for the rest of us? I grow food not pot and the pot growers have made it much harder for me to grow food, which, last I checked every human in existence depends of for survival.
“I grow food not pot and the pot growers have made it much harder for me to grow food”…
That’s a laugh…!!!
Waaanh…!!!
Hypocrisy abounds.
How do you figure…???
Pot growers buying your products is probably the only thing that has kept you in business, just like the rest of the businesses in Humboldt.
If you don’t realize that, that’s called being in denial.
And I didn’t ruin shit for you…
Unless…
We give away the vast majority of the food that we produce for free. Always have. How legit is that…???
If that makes it tougher for you… GOOD!
Food for maximum “legitimate” profit is what has ruined the rest of you.
Last I checked, the exorbitant prices for food that we all “depend on for survival” which food profiteers extort from “every human in existence” they can, is what is jeopardizing food security for many Americans.
I especially take the greatest pleasure in sharing the Lord’s Bounty free of charge, which He so generously provides for me, free of charge, especially to those that appreciate it, and/or who it would make the greatest difference to, the ones that cannot afford Mammon’s produce, and so, have to go without it.
You keep right on selling it…
And I’ll just keep giving it away…
I don’t slurp on any boots either sir, I run a business and am not trying to make it harder on myself. There are all sorts of hoops to jump through if you intend to produce and sell things. Why don’t you start yelling at every business owner you know and call them bootlickers, your circle will end up pretty small to nonexistent by the time you are done. You should wear a sign around your neck that says “not-a-bootlicker” then I will know who you are so me and every other farmer can charge you double and triple the price of food to try to make back just a fraction of the money that people like you have cost us.
Tomayto, Tomahto…
Probably get an agriculture property tax exemption…
And you should wear a sign around your neck that says, “I don’t sell food to pot growers because they make it harder for me to grow food”, and “I’m not a bootlicker.”
You’ll get nothing, but laughs.
I don’t need to yell at anyone.
I just won’t shop there.
Save yourself a whole lot of bureaucratic nonsense, and all that jumping through hoops, and just give the food you grow away, don’t sell it.
You don’t have to identify yourself, you are pretty clearly one of those many grossly overpriced Farmers Market vendors.
Since when do you all not already charge double and triple the price of food…???
If you can’t figure out that is the problem, then go ahead and try charging me double or triple your already doubled and tripled prices…
See if it helps… If it’s such a great idea.
You still won’t get a dime out of me, it’s prices like that that have ruined the Farmers Markets all these years.
12 dollars for a dozen eggs…!!!
9 dollars for a dozen eggs…!!!
Overpriced, unripe windfall apple cider…
That’s fucking ridiculous…!!!
(And they are probably not even that fresh…)
It’s shameful.
I gave eggs away for free.
Eggs are under 10 dollars FOR FIVE DOZEN at WinCo.
That’s less than 2 dollars a dozen.
Giving your bit of food away is good. I also donate all I can’t sell, and since I’m a wholesaler to grocery stores I don’t get Farmer’s market prices, but it would be nice to tap that market someday. You sound quite grumpy, maybe go take a puff of your own medicine. I’m just stating the fact that if you run a business, run it right so you don’t get hammered. If you choose to cut corners, don’t go crying when things don’t work out for you, you don’t earn any sympathy that way. What does happen is you make the government come up with a whole bunch of new regulations that make peoples’ businesses more expensive and harder to run and make the end product more expensive for the community. That’s really selfish. Then you cry about it and are nasty as well? I’m no fan of government or regulations but I understand whose to blame for these things getting worse. I get it, you miss your Costa Rica vacations.
Why don’t you give your pot away? Oh yeah that’s right, you can’t even do that. Have a nice day bucko.
It comes from my farm. Getting an ag exempt permit is $150. The building inspector comes out after you submit your plot plan. You have to pay for the hour he is out and travel time. Mine ended up costing $210 total. You sign a bunch of paperwork stating that you won’t use your structure for growing pot. The ag commissioner sends someone out as well to inspect your crops and make sure you are growing what you say you are growing. All of it is affordable.
If he had done those things he most definitely wouldn’t be looking at his abatement issues. My greenhouse is 100’ x 30’. So not small by any means. The fact that he is facing fines tells me that he skipped some steps and got the hammer or wasn’t being truthful to begin with.
Where does your food come from Dusty? And why the hostility toward someone who is informing you how it all actually works?
That particular person’s abatement case was dismissed. The whole case rested on the premise it was a structure dedicated to illegal cannabis.
Yes but remember All* of the plaintiffs were not growing per the filings.
Follow the MONEY. Lotsa’ semi-shady back-door dealings with government.
For the benefit of the unwashed masses, can someone explain “minor code violations” and “the county’s factually incorrect statements”?
Is it about utilities, drainage, sewage, access? Zoning? Un-spayed pets? “Harvesting beaver pelts”?
As someone with degrees from C/R and Humboldt, I can probably work out words of up to three syllables. If you type slowly. 🙂
I apologize for being perhaps too light-hearted about a potentially serious matter; but without more context, it’s a bit of a word salad to those not directly involved.
At the bottom of the press release are links to articles that go into the code violations. Even skimming the first one in the list will give you a sense.
No bias in this arcticle…nope, none.
It’s not an article….
It not only clearly states it is a press release but we added the warning, “(Please remember that this is not neutral reporting but a press release from an interested party)”
Ooops, my bad. Please accept my apologies and promise to try to read with greater comprehension before commenting.
I just decided donate the maximum amount that I can deduct from 2023 taxes to The Institute for Justice.
Wait until the IRS unleashes those 80 thousand new agents ole Joe just hired.
Agent 1: Hey Joe pull up the aerials of Humboldt County.
Agent 2: Done, and I’ve listed all the properties with grows and the time lines.
Agent 1: Excellent, now research how many of these owners filed during those years, and if so, for how much.
Agent 2: Done, and oh baby what a well spring of enforcement.
Agent 1: Excellent, by the time we get done with them they won’t have a pot to piss in, or a window to throw it out of. Heh—heh heh
We’re from the government and we’re here to help.
It seems more likely the IRS will target entities that actually have money, not spent grow sites in an area that has boomed and busted. Their time would yield a better return by going after wealthy tax cheats like…I don’t know…New York real estate tycoons…
Ryan Burns at LoCo did a pretty good article on the matter. Giving the judges reasoning. Worth a read.
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2023/may/15/federal-judge-tosses-class-action-suit-challenging/
Agree. It’s not a popular decision but the judge methodically dissected and dismissed every claim in the lawsuit.
In effect the judge ruled the case was short on facts and short on the law. At this point the IJ appeal is the legal equivalent of pounding the table and yelling like hell.
The Plaintiffs haven’t been subjected to unconstitutionally excessive fines and fees or denial of permits because not one cent in fines has been collected from them and no permits have been denied.
The judge reviewed the situations of the “innocent parties” and concluded they had “actual or constructive notice” of the code violations they were stepping into and their on again/off again efforts to resolve the cases were responsible for much of the delay
And so it went. In effect, the judge found there was no basis for the claims; there were no possible amendments that would provide a basis; and it would be a waste of time to allow further amendments or let the case go to trial..
As Carl Sandburg said: “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.”
Raids in Trinity already getting violent and using excessive force. So stupid and Sad. This is why cannabis needs to be decriminalized. Too much violence against farmers for too long. * Warning as someone with major PTSD this was a major trigger to watch. If you have PTSD from raids this is a tough one. Also involves animal cruelty by Sherriffs. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsRgnpiu-63/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Just attended the web meeting with IJ’s attorney. He made excellent points and I’m encouraged that the appeal to the 9th Circuit will soon be filed. I’m eagerly waiting to read it.