Colorado rec shop countersues investment firms

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The owners of the Original Leaf recreational marijuana store in Aspen, Colorado, are countersuing two Texas investment firms, alleging that their principals controlled the money they invested in Original Leaf and forced the owners to hire unnecessary workers, including one who tried to ruin its marijuana crop.

Colorado Medical Marijuana Supply, which owns Original Leaf, filed the suit this month after Stillhouse Investments and the Willin Group sued company owners Jesse Miller and Cloud Shadowshot in November, according to the Aspen Daily News.

The Colorado Medical Marijuana Supply lawsuit acknowledges the store has so far not repaid more than $2 million in promissory notes from the two Texas firms but adds that not all the funds are currently due.

The Colorado Medical lawsuit alleges that while the promissory notes stipulated that the investment firms would have certain controls over the capital, they instead controlled all of it and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on goods and services that benefited Stillhouse and Willin, not the rec store.

The lawsuit also alleges that the firms forced Colorado Medical to hire employees it didn’t need, weren’t qualified and who were known only to the owners of the investment firms. Those employees were paid with the money from the promissory notes, according to the Aspen Daily News.

Colorado Medical is seeking a jury trial for its counterclaims, which include breach of contract, while the lawsuit filed by the Texas firms in November seeks a return of the capital plus 18% interest.