After announcing the shock halt to the progress of medical cannabis licences in Alabama, a judge has issued an order preserving the opportunity for cannabis companies to appeal the decision.
Business of Cannabis reported last week that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) had halted all proceedings relating to medical cannabis businesses just four days after it announced plans to issue 21 licences, due to the discovery of “potential inconsistencies” in how the applications were scored.
According to AL.com, Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson has now issued a temporary restraining order as part of a lawsuit brought by two licence applicants.
Originally, the impacted companies had until June 26 to appeal, but due to the lawsuit this deadline has been suspended until July 13 when the judge is set to hold another hearing.
Despite this win for the impacted licence applications, the judge denied a request from Alabama Always, one of the two companies bringing the lawsuit, for ‘expedited discovery’ in an effort to obtain depositions and documents to learn more about what the company claims are legal problems and inconsistencies with the commission’s process.
William Somerville, an attorney for Alabama Always, said after the hearing: “We were concerned that the commission didn’t do it properly, didn’t give proper notice, and that it didn’t have the authority under its rules and regulations to issue a stay.
“And so we thought if we just sat around and let the time continue to run we would lose our rights or have to file an immediate appeal.”
