New Lawsuit Filed Against New York State Office of Cannabis Management and the New York State Cannabis Control Board Re Municipal Notifications

Lawyer Benjamin Rattner posted the following to Linked in 14 May 2024

Thomas Spanos of Cermele & Wood LLP represents the petitioners

Amidst all of the excitement last week, a new lawsuit was filed against New York State Office of Cannabis Management and the New York State Cannabis Control Board. This hashtag#Article78 proceeding concerns the Section 76 of the hashtag#MRTA, which requires notifications to municipalities before an applicant files an adult-use retail dispensary license application. Specifically, the petitioners are challenging, as arbitrary and capricious, the hashtag#OCM‘s decision to allow hashtag#CAURD applicants to file their license applications without first submitting a municipal notification. That’s the legal hook to bring the special proceeding.

What appears to be the “real” issue, however, is that certain non-CAURD dispensary license applicants who have secured real estate for their dispensaries are not having their applications processed while provisional CAURD licensees are being permitted to submit locations that may box out the non-CAURD applicants who are awaiting review of their license applications.