Federal Class Action Lawsuit Against Humboldt County’s Cannabis Abatement Program Makes National News and Even International News
Screenshot of the article in the Daily Mail
What began in the hills of rural Humboldt County, in the law office of late attorney Eugene Denson, and was reported on here, at the Redheaded Blackbelt, has struck a chord with a national and international audiences in both the Daily Mail and the US Sun.
The Daily Mail’s senior reporter Miles Dilworth, who is based in London, wrote an article featuring interviews with the abatement lawsuit plaintiffs; Corrine and Doug Thomas, Rhonda Olson and Blu Graham who were also featured in previous articles here.
Dilworth wrote, “Astonishingly, [the Thomases] are among dozens of unwitting homeowners [who] have been targeted by Humboldt County, whose officials have been accused in a class action lawsuit of trying to ‘squeeze every dollar’ it can out of legalized marijuana ‘at the expense of innocent people’.
The Daily Mail article continues to highlight the issues. It states,
“Retiree Rhonda Olson, 64, faces fines of more than $7million because someone else grew weed on her property before she bought it.
And Blu Graham, 51, was hit with penalties of around $900,000 based on ‘unfounded and uninvestigated allegations’ that he was growing cannabis in his greenhouses, whereas in reality he was growing vegetables for his restaurant.
Similarly, a chicken farmer was prosecuted by the county for growing cannabis in a greenhouse in which he was in fact rearing chicks.
The extraordinary claims are laid bare in a lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice [IJ].
Attorney Jared McClain told DailyMail.com that officials were ‘lashing out’ in an attempt to reap the promised financial rewards of legalization, which are yet to materialize.”
Another outlet, the US Sun, also published an article that featured a quote from this reporter in a RHBB news article, which reads,
“A decision on the lawsuit is pending.
“I have been waiting for four years to get my day in court with seven million in fines hanging over my head, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the line of questioning by the Judges on the Ninth Circuit, United States Court of Appeals,” Olson told local journalist Nichole Norris in April.
“If it weren’t for our brilliant lawyers, Jared McClain, Robert Johnson from the Institute for Justice, we would’ve just had to accept what Humboldt County is doing to us.”
Doug Thomas agreed.”
Our coverage of Humboldt County property owners who were abated and fined, for previous owners code enforcement issues and cannabis-related crimes, began with an anonymous interview with plaintiff Blu Graham in March 2020. It was March 2022 when our coverage of the abatement program got the attention of the national human interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, who then filed this suit in October 2022 against Humboldt County, and then attributed the litigation directly to local reporting on Twitter (now X), and also on KMUD radio.
Institute for Justice attorney, Jared McClain Tweeted on X (formerly Twitter) about the importance of local reporting.
Slowly but surely, the lawsuit is currently moving through the courts after being entirely dismissed at the district level.
In this interview in April with attorney Jared McClain outside the court of appeals in San Francisco after oral arguments, he details why he believes the total dismissal by Judge Illman was so perplexing.
The Institute for Justice appealed the lower courts decision to the Ninth Circuit, made oral arguments in April, and is currently awaiting a decision from the Ninth Circuit court of appeals now.
The two possible outcomes moving forward are that the Ninth Circuit could either affirm or reverse the decision, if they affirm the decision, it means they agree that the magistrate was right to dismiss this case. If they reverse the decision, they’ll remand, or send it back to the district court—either back to Magistrate Illman or to a new, randomly assigned judge in the Northern District of California. Because Magistrate Illman is the only judge in the Eureka Division, the case would probably go to San Francisco if it’s reassigned to a new judge.
Attorney Jared McClain explained that “what happens next is an open question,” and wrote,
“Typically [the Ninth Circuit judges] would decide that [Judge Illman] erred by dismissing our case, and the next step would be going to discovery at the district court. But there’s a chance they may “vacate” his decision instead of reversing it. In that case, they’d say that he screwed up so badly in how he analyzed our complaint, that they’ll basically give the case to a new trial judge to decide the motion to dismiss again…It’s impossible to say, unfortunately, how long it will take the court to rule. There’s no timetable; it’s just whenever the court gets done writing the opinion.”
Stay tuned to RHBB for more on this story and please consider donating to help continue this expansive local reporting, that makes a difference to our community and beyond.
International and National articles about the lawsuit
https://www.the-sun.com/news/11476407/retired-home-million-fines-previous-owner/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13453619/California-retirees-cannabis-fines.html
Previously reported here and beyond
Extended audio interview update with Blu Graham after the lawsuit was filed in Oct 2022
Earlier:
- Facing 30,000 Per Day Fines, One Person Who Claims He Had No Cannabis at the Time He Was Abated by Humboldt County Reports His Experience
- Penalties, Costs, Fines, and Fees: A Deep Look at the Humboldt County Cannabis Abatement Process
- 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 Cannabis Abatement Program “Unconstitutional,” Says the Institute for Justice Which Today Filed a Federal Class Action Lawsuit
- 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
- Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Humboldt County’s Cannabis Abatement Process
- Undeterred: After Judge Grants County’s Motion to Dismiss All Claims Against Abatement Program, Plaintiffs and their Lawyers Appeal
- Humboldt County Strikes Back With Response to Institute of Justice Claims in Federal Class Action Lawsuit Against the Cannabis Abatement Program
- Humboldt County Cannabis Abatement Lawsuit Moves Forward in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals with a Reply Brief From the Institute of Justice
- Ninth Circuit Hears Appeals in Landmark Case Against Humboldt County’s Cannabis Abatement Program
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Be nice if these reporters would also start asking questions of the officials responsible for all this.
Let these officials know that it is being noticed beyond the Redwood Curtain.
Another website that ran it.
https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/california-homeowners-are-being-fined-millions-after-moving-into-properties-once-used-to-grow-illegal-weed.5622442/
I interview policy makers and officials regularly, on almost every article.
And a great job your doing. Was talking about reporters beyond our borders.
Oh ok, yeah give it time, none of this is a quick process, except the abatement requirements.
It’s time for us, the majority of The People to take back control of our national cannabis policy. By voting OUT of office any and all politicians who very publicly and vocally admit to having an anti-cannabis, prohibitionist agenda! Time to vote’em all OUT of office. Period. Plain and simple.
Politicians who continue to demonize Cannabis, Corrupt Law Enforcement Officials who prefer to ruin peoples lives over Cannabis possession rather than solve real crimes who fund their departments toys and salaries with monies acquired through cannabis home raids, seizures and forfeitures, and so-called “Addiction Specialists” who make their income off of the judicial misfortunes of our citizens who choose cannabis, – Your actions go against The Will of The People and Your Days In Office Are Numbered! Find new careers before you don’t have one.
The People have spoken! Get on-board with Cannabis Legalization Nationwide, or be left behind and find new careers. Your choice.
I warned everyone I could not to vote for Prop. 64. Government involvement destroys everything it touches, especially when you have greedy and corrupt Supervisors.
Great points and I wish it were so simple, but it’s not. Do at least two of our sups have ties to some of the larger permitted cannabis farms, yes. But Regulatory capture is an epidemic in all regulated industries. Also this is a reason to support decriminalization, NOT federal legalization. Legalization is only the recriminalization of cannabis from my perspective and exasperates corporate consolidation. I spoke about this at the international film festival recently…. https://on.soundcloud.com/Eyha9jfAvNWP7DQW9
“But Regulatory capture is an epidemic in all regulated industries.”
Be still, my heart.
That’s kind Koch. Well of course. While Cannabis is a wonderful lens to look at all these issues through, the heart of the matter is so much deeper. I’m grateful for the opportunity to investigate the root issues in society with Mary Jane as my guide. If you enjoy discussions around this, you may enjoy this interview I did with the co founder of the community environmental legal defense fund (CELDF.org) – https://on.soundcloud.com/pY5bNVmt8TmPCf619
Everything has to go federal before the right people get sued and fired…
I think this is an important expose of what is wrong with the country, which is con-men are running everything…
https://slate.com/culture/2024/05/donald-trump-news-2024-trial-verdict-apprentice.html
He would ask Libertarians for support… THAT’S how crooked he is…
It’s a scam, an ornate long-con…
Weed tried to kill Humboldt, and now Humboldt needs to get the weed out of the Supervisor’s office, and out of Public Offices…
It will take 50 years to clean up one-half of the problems that weed created in Humboldt County…
The “War on Cannabis” has been a complete and utter failure. It is the largest component of the broader yet equally unsuccessful “War on Drugs” that has cost our country over a trillion dollars.
Instead of The United States wasting Billions upon Billions more of our yearly tax dollars fighting a never ending “War on Cannabis”, lets generate Billions of dollars, and improve the deficit instead. Especially now, due to Covid-19. It’s a no brainer.
The Prohibition of Cannabis has also ruined the lives of many of our loved ones. In numbers greater than any other nation, our loved ones are being sent to jail and are being given permanent criminal records. Especially, if they happen to be of the “wrong” skin color or they happen to be from the “wrong” neighborhood. Which ruin their chances of employment for the rest of their lives, and for what reason?
Cannabis is much safer to consume than alcohol. Yet do we lock people up for choosing to drink?
Let’s end this hypocrisy now!
The government should never attempt to legislate morality by creating victim-less cannabis “crimes” because it simply does not work and costs the taxpayers a fortune.
Cannabis Legalization Nationwide is an inevitable reality that’s approaching much sooner than prohibitionists think and there is nothing they can do to stop it!
Legalize federally now. What’s legal to possess and consume in over half of the populated areas of The United States should not make you a criminal in states still being governed by woefully ignorant prohibitionist politicians.
Cannabis consumers in all states deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All-American pastime, alcohol.
Plain and simple!
Legalize Nationwide Federally Now!
Hey, just try to get some Valium, get a refill, or access medicine at all…
Drugs are a shitshow, and Americans are denied access without the government taking advantage…
Legalize federally now. What’s legal to possess and consume in over half of the populated areas of The United States should not make you a criminal in states still being governed by woefully ignorant prohibitionist politicians.
Cannabis consumers in all states deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All-American pastime, alcohol.
Plain and simple!
Legalize Nationwide Federally Now!
I think our experience with legalization in CA gives us a great look at why we should NOT federally legalize it, and instead decriminalize.
Unfortunately, ending federal prohibition will be a greed driven decision which means it’ll be replaced with legalization and the high taxes and fees that go with it.
Fear of Cannabis Legalization Nationwide is unfounded. Not based on any science or fact whatsoever. So please prohibitionists, we beg you to give your scare tactics, “Conspiracy Theories” and “Doomsday Scenarios” over the inevitable Legalization of Cannabis Nationwide a rest. Nobody is buying them anymore these days. Okay?
Furthermore, if all prohibitionists get when they look into that nice, big and shiny crystal ball of theirs, while wondering about the future of cannabis legalization, is horror, doom, and despair, well then I suggest they return that thing as quickly as possible and reclaim the money they shelled out for it, since it’s obviously defective.
The prohibition of cannabis has not decreased the supply nor the demand for cannabis at all. Not one single iota, and it never will. Just a huge and complete waste of our tax dollars to continue criminalizing citizens for choosing a natural, non-toxic, relatively benign plant proven to be much safer than alcohol.
If prohibitionists are going to take it upon themselves to worry about “saving us all” from ourselves, then they need to start with the drug that causes more death and destruction than every other drug in the world COMBINED, which is alcohol!
Why do prohibitionists feel the continued need to vilify and demonize cannabis when they could more wisely focus their efforts on a real, proven killer, alcohol, which again causes more destruction, violence, and death than all other drugs, COMBINED?
Prohibitionists really should get their priorities straight and/or practice a little live and let live. They’ll live longer, happier, and healthier, with a lot less stress if they refrain from being bent on trying to control others through Draconian Cannabis Laws.
Sometimes it comes down to a couple overzealous individuals in a backwater County who in some cases, almost psychopathically prosecute a weird agenda. It gets ignored or celebrated when it’s a cash cow.
Warren Black
Beyond his involvement in these cases, he has a track record of inexplicably DISCOURAGING legitimate property buyers. He is almost a one-man Official Humboldt County Detractor.
In the short term he brought in revenue. In the long term he’s going to cost the County millions. Personally. One guy. Not elected, or even up on the radar like John Ford.
Weird how these sadistic kooks end up in Code Enforcement.
My wife and I sold a property to a man that received hella fines we foreclosure on him the fines became are fines and we ended up loosing the property that we spent at least 200k on its not rite what Humboldt Co did to us very sad
I would like to hear more about your story, Please reach out to me At [email protected]
Sad thing is we had no idea about the fines or what had maybe happened until we foreclosed on the property and took it back over Humboldt Co treated us like we were criminals but this was a family property for Maney years for camping and vacations sad shit I hope they have to fix all the destruction they have caused
This is because of the greed of the BOS, and the incompetence county building dept.
There is incompetence in the building department but I’m not sure that’s what happened here. They have been quite competent in shaking the money loose from old growers who thought they could become “legitimate” with “legalization” lol. And John Ford has been quite competent with grabbing any money they can from wherever they can- even if it has meant deception, manipulation and coercion. He are quite competent at that!!
the only winners will be the attorneys
IJ is free of charge to the plaintiffs and community, they pay their attorneys with donations.
But if/when IJ wins the appeal they’ll be entitled to attorneys fees.
And win or lose the County is on the hook to pay their attorneys.
Oh yeah I forgot about that aspect, I’ll reach out to Jared and get clarification. if IJ wins there will undoubtedly be individual suits for damages thereafter as well. sure, while the lawsuit will cost the county, I think ending the potentially unconstitutional program is more important and will serve property owners greatly. If the abatement program continued unabated, we would all have much greater a concerns than taxing the general fund (I suspect?) to put a stop to what’s being called a “regulation for profit land grab.” And if we didn’t step up to the task now, what would happen across the northwest. This isn’t just happening in Humboldt. And Look at the cost to southern Humboldt where about 72% of abatements were served, property values plummeted, businesses shuttered, etc. it had to stop before every rural town looked like that.
And just so everyone’s aware, the UK Daily Mail and the US Sun are tabloids -which usually cover stories like the 800 pound house cat or Hilary Clinton giving birth to an alien – stuff you know is true because you saw the headline while standing in line at the supermarket checkout.
So I was wondering if it was really “news” to have your story covered by the Daily Mail and the sun?
But then I read the articles, including the part in the Daily Mail commenting on the effects of legalization:
“Mexican cartels have pounced, leading to massacres and worker exploitation tied to illegal grows in the state.”
Now that’s news!
Here we are, in the heart of the ET, and it takes a checkout line tabloid to be the first with this breaking story on legalization massacres!
I’m looking forward to reading the whole expose in RHBB!
I think the connection is that the story of a county being so extremely predatory on it’s own residents is as unbelievable as the Hilary alien baby story. But…THIS story is actually true! I know- John Ford’s deceptive and predatory behavior IS as weird as an 800 pound cat….it is incredible! Next stop- Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!!
Thanks, I’ll be sure to provide it 🙂 I found that rather humorous too, that this story may be featured next to the proverbial 800 lb cat or Clinton alien baby ha ha. I feel like I’ve been accused of being a conspiracy theorist for covering this topic over the years, and to have my name printed in the sun makes me laugh so hard. What does this say about modern media? Zero local outlets other than Kym and Econews let me cover this issue. Isn’t that wild? I reached out to every one. One of the biggest local stories of the decade, but it wasn’t newsworthy I guess?
There might be a truth in the article, however it s the Daily Mail, who’s accuracy is about as reliable as anything out of Trumps mouth.
oh dear, you didn’t use an apostrophe to show possession, how disrespectful to the person, shame shame.
And that that rubs you wrong?
It’s outrageous enough for the tabloids.
Truth to it!?
It continues this very day. You may want to check your property. This is a time bomb ready to scuttle almost every rural property sale in the County.
No need to check mine, as I don’t grow weed.
None of the plaintiffs did either.
Say you wanted to grow apples in Ettersburg. Or continue a teaching career in Miranda, instead of Red Bluff. You could be in the final DAYS of a long real estate transaction to buy a property, after months of lining up the loans based on your legit life, and be asking someone in the county about something completely unrelated, and find a SECRET tens-of-thousands-dollar bombshell ready to drop on the property. Something that doesn’t pop up in normal title reports. It could be over things absolutely, explicitly, or even tacitly, approved already, that would not set off any warning bells to you as a buyer in your normal non-weed, non Humboldt life, because except for “Weed Bad” it’s normal stuff.
The late, great Ed Denson took on the county on my behalf and showed that the alleged “grading violation” in Rancho Sequoia (try not to laugh, the entire subdivision is a grading violation) did not actually exist. The county’s case (and $90,000 fine)was dismissed. ✌
I think I worked on your case 🙂
Shows that they were raking in buku Dollar with a shotgun approach. Not everybody fights it, despite many cases being specious. The County has let loose the planning dept! of all weird bureaucratic forces, for short term gain. The legal financial consequences of excessive greed, basically, is going to override any short term income the County enjoyed.
WEED BAD!
The scary thing, and something I never see discussed is the fact the country could potentially start levying these fines against just about any rural property owner. It’s not the growing of weed that brought forth those fines, it was CDFW environmental issues. Do you have a couple corts of oil from an oil change that is not in a container with seconddary containment? that’s a $7,000 a day fine. Do you have an unpermitted house, septic system or greywater system? that’s a $15,000 a daybfine. Have you ever graded you road without getting a permit from the county? ect, ect…
We discuss it- my friends and I. Yes- the predatory behavior of our county towards us does not bode well. And what you say would be the next logical step forward for that Building Department in their quest to raise funds….Are they still paying over $100,000 a year for that satellite program to spy on everybody? We don’t hear much and don’t see lots of new abatements so kinda think that has quietly stopped while this lawsuit runs it’s course? They sure would not announce it’s gone now would they?
I would be surprised if they can still afford it. I’ve heard from several county workers that tax revenue is so low their looking at laying off up to 25% of county employees by the end of next year. There also thinking of proposing a 1% increase is Humboldt sales tax. Ofcourse that didn’t stop them from voting themselves another 10% pay rase last week..
I need to file another public records request to find out. I recall it was a three year contract. As far as I know the abatement program as we knew it (from 2017-2022) is no longer. Code enforcement seems to only go out with the hcso on raids since the lawsuit was filed in Oct 2022.
Correction, I just spoke with an abatement recipient I worked for back in 2018 who is now facing an appeal hearing, which is a newer development since the suit was filed as far as I understand. Stay tuned for more.
THC said:
“It’s not the growing of weed that brought forth those fines, it was CDFW environmental issues.”
Au contraire, the county’s abatement program was directed exclusively at code violations allegedly connected to weed cultivation whether they involved environmental issues or not.
But what really makes the abatement program unique (and IMO also vulnerable) is the attempt to impose civil penalties based on alleged criminal activity, especially of prior owners.
Then why was cultivation always a separate crime or fine?
Same reason use, possession, possession for sales, sales, transportation, etc. were separate crimes – if they can’t get ya one way, they’ll get ya another.
But I’m not sure how your question follows from my comment.
The point is that the charges were separate. The environmental charges could be levied on their own without marijuana being involved. They just use the cultivation as the reason for them to be there in the first place to find the environmental violations. But with fishing and games unprecedented Leniency at violating the fourth amendment they don’t necessarily need marijuana as an excuse, they can use the environmental violations as the reason to be there.
Both the Daily Mail and US Sun are right leaning tabloid trash, wish more legitimate publications with better reputations could spread this story.
The LA times is publishing a piece in a day or two. In Oct 2022 I reached out to the Lever, the rolling stone, and some others and they didn’t respond just an fyi. I reached out again today, hopefully they take me seriously since we made the tabloids and the LA times. Tbd.
Good to know, hope this story gets more mention in those more reputable publications!
Same here, but hey how awesome is Kym kemp for making all this possible? It’s truly amazing to think about the impact of a single woman’s dedication and right in our own community. I’d never have the chance to make national news without her either. This news site matters so much and on so many levels 🙂
Well isn’t it funny that the left-leaning rags and tabloid trash aren’t touching the story…
Congrats Kym and Nikki!! GREAT work! What I see happening here, now in multiple cases, is the Humboldt County Planning Department staff running rampant with any cray-cray violation they can cook up for individual citizens, then going after so-called “violators” for regulation violations that are not even real. Where is the Planning Department Director in all this? He seems to be routinely rubber-stamping his staff’s crazy unsupported allegations without even reading them or requiring supporting documentation. HE IS NOT PAYING ATTENTION!! This includes the whole debacle with changing Measure S and changing Measure V– which the Director now admits was not his staff’s “best work”. And the Supervisors are complicit by going along with whatever the Director proposes, even though they know by now that he has cost the county dearly in legal fees to defend indefensible actions, and/or in staff time to roll back unsupported actions! Meanwhile, giant, multi-billion dollar corporations (Sun Communities, BoaVida) violate code regulations and are not penalized in any way, over multiple years! The buck stops with the Supervisors– they need to find a Planning Department Director willing to pay attention and capable of exerting rational control over staff so they are not wasting millions of tax payer dollars to undo what never should’ve been done in the first place.
I am honored that someone as knowledgeable as you is not just reading my work but taking the time to comment. I am taking notes, keep it coming and thanks 🙂
I pray they win. The county is abusing its power and destroying peoples lives. I really wonder at their motivation.