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Greenhouse Cannabis Club Director Eric McNeil filed a $3 million civil lawsuit against Murrieta on Tuesday, alleging the city and its Police Department are violating medical privacy laws and are threatening patients with violence, arrest and detention.
The lawsuit, filed by McNeil's attorney Richard Ackerman in Riverside Superior Court, alleges the city is discriminating against a group of people based on "perceived characteristics about their health or medical condition."
The suit calls into question Murrieta Police Department practices of targeting patients as they left the Jefferson Avenue medical marijuana collective. Those practices were detailed in a federal search warrant served on the club in mid-March.
According to the lawsuit, officers found reasons to pull over patients who left the collective and then questioned their possession of prescribed marijuana. In at least one instance, according to the suit, a police officer followed a patient from the collective into a grocery store and "grilled" her about her medical condition.
"There is no probable cause for invading the sacrosanct privacy rights of the dozens of members of the (collective) who have been pulled over and forced to disclose private medical information for fear of arrest or other mistreatment at the hands of the sworn law enforcement officers of the city," the suit states. "Each and every collective member ... has a right to be free of harassment and unreasonable violations of medical privacy."
Greenhouse Cannabis Club opened in early January and the city quickly asked a judge to order the collective to close. The judge, however, said the city could not deny medical marijuana patients the right to gather. A short time later, the judge approved a city-written injunction that states the collective can serve "no more than two" people. Since that time, the club has remained open and continued to serve patients, just no more than two at a time, McNeil said.
In June, McNeil is scheduled to stand trial on a charge of contempt of court for allegedly violating the order that he not dispense marijuana to more than two people. McNeil's attorney has interpreted that order to mean that no more than two people can be served at a time.
The Drug Enforcement Administration raided the club in mid-March, and earlier this month a judge evicted the club from its premises.
With the lawsuit, McNeil is seeking an injunction against the city and Police Department that would prohibit them from targeting patients. The lawsuit also requests an order striking down the city's existing moratorium on dispensaries and punitive damages in the amount of $3 million.
"The city is trying to prove a point ---- it's become a personal issue for them," McNeil said in a recent interview. "It's personal for me now, too, because every time I'm in here (at the club), patients are so thankful that we're doing what we're doing. The (residents) don't deserve this."
By 5 p.m. Tuesday, the city had not received a copy of the suit, said Deputy City Attorney Bob Mahlowitz.
"It hasn't been served on the city yet," he said. "We haven't seen it, so obviously I can't comment on it."
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/murrieta/exclusive-greenhouse-cannabis-sues-murrieta-for-million/article_be5a8b8d-7086-5607-9d3d-5acaba48ffed.html#ixzz1sRNiMYOw
