In the most basic terms, offering fraud occurs when a person (or entity) makes material misrepresentations or omissions to potential investors in a new company (most commonly, promising those investors large “guaranteed” returns on their investments). Offering fraud cases have become more prominent in recent years, and it looks like the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Even before COVID-19 entered our lives, it was clear that more and more businesses were realizing the importance of engaging with consumers online. Now, as most are forced to limit their in-person activities or shut them down altogether, we are seeing an even sharper trend in businesses investing in their online presence – especially with
Our last update on the first-ever cannabis patent case, United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) v. Pure Hemp Collective, Inc. (“Pure Hemp”) was back in July 2019. A lot has changed in the world since then (although the case was largely unremarkable), and the possible ending to this once-deemed “pivotal” case for the industry may now face
Colorado-based United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 22. Regular readers may recall that UCANN is the plaintiff in the first ever cannabis patent protection case which generally concerned liquid cannabinol formulations of a purified CBD and/or THC greater than 95%. That litigation is now stayed (paused) as a result
A couple of months ago I wrote a “Hemp/CBD litigation forecast.” (See here.) One topic of that post was the rise in class actions against Hemp-CBD companies and I noted the consumer class action complaint filed against JustCBD in the Southern District of Florida, Case No. 0:19-cv-62067-RS. The gravamen of the complaint is that JustCBD
Recently, Jonathan Bench wrote about the importance of insurance coverage for your hemp or recreational marijuana business. His first article provided the basic anatomy of such policies and his second discussed the importance of product liability insurance. This post highlights recent litigation in which insurance is at issue, or ought to be. Hemp insurer seeks
Yes, cannabis is still federally illegal. But no, that doesn’t mean cannabis businesses should act as if federal law doesn’t exist. It does, and it probably applies to any cannabis business. Nevertheless, our cannabis attorneys often hear claims that federal law doesn’t apply. In fact, two questions that I’ve heard numerous times are: If the
Regular readers know that we are in the midst of presenting a 50-state series analyzing how each state treats hemp-derived cannabidiol (“Hemp CBD”). Recently we covered Idaho, which we neatly summarized as “probably the worst state in the country to get caught with hemp.” The article explains why this is so in detail. Among the
Just a few weeks ago, Curaleaf Holdings (“Curaleaf”) announced that it would pay $875 million, mostly in stock, to acquire a Chicago based cannabis company, Grassroots. (See here.) This followed news in May that Curaleaf had reached a nearly $1 billion all-stock deal with one of Oregon’s biggest cannabis companies, Cura Partners, Inc. (See here).
We frequently write on hemp litigation and the ways farmers and purchasers can mitigate the risks inherent in this new industry. Along with others, we have stressed the importance of strategic and careful thinking before entering into a hemp-related contract. Our cannabis lawyers frequently write and speak on these and related topics. A couple of
