Massachusetts cannabis RICO case settled out of court for ‘substantial’ amount

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A Massachusetts racketeering lawsuit against a marijuana shop was dismissed, but the victory for that cannabis business didn’t come without a cost.

The parties agreed to a “substantial” but confidential out-of-court settlement, according to recent information published by Masslive.com.

A civil racketeering case – utilizing the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) statutes – was filed against Healthy Pharms in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2017 and then dismissed in November, according to court records.

The amount of the settlement paid out to the unhappy neighbors of Healthy Pharms was not disclosed, Masslive.com reported, and Healthy Pharms is currently open and serving customers.

But the payout Healthy Pharms agreed to was described as “substantial” and “significant” by an attorney for the plaintiff, led by Crimson Galeria.

Here’s some background on RICO cases around the United States that you need to know:

  • Similar cases have cropped up around the country, filed typically by anti-marijuana neighbors of cannabis companies.
  • A Colorado case decided by a jury last fall wound up a win for the MJ grower that was sued, but there’s no such guarantee of victory in other ongoing RICO cases, such as one that’s pending in California.
  • Another RICO case in Oregon was tossed last year by a federal judge who ruled the plaintiffs failed to prove any substantial financial loss caused by allegations of a “skunk-like” smell emanating from a nearby marijuana grow.