Rhode Island cannabis company seeks arbitration against Acreage Holdings

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Acreage Holdings lawsuit, Rhode Island cannabis company seeks arbitration against Acreage Holdings

Acreage Holdings, one of the largest multistate operators in the U.S. marijuana market, faces a demand for arbitration from a Rhode Island company that claims Acreage violated a contract agreement.

CanWell filed an arbitration request alleging that New York-based Acreage breached a noncompete portion of an operating agreement the companies signed in 2018 by pursuing competing marijuana business opportunities in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

CanWell has MJ business interests in all three states, according to the legal filing.

CanWell is alleging “breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with business relations and unjust enrichment” by Acreage and its executives.

The arbitration demand, filed in Kent County Superior Court in Rhode Island, requests damages for all of those allegations as well as punitive damages and an injunction barring Acreage from competing with the company in all three states where it has MJ business interests.

Meanwhile, a Rhode Island judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order preventing regulators from giving the final go-ahead to Acreage’s acquisition of Greenleaf Compassion Care Center, a licensed MMJ dispensary in the state, as part of the arbitration case.

Acreage didn’t immediately respond to Marijuana Business Daily for a comment.

Acreage trades on the U.S. over-the-counter markets as ACRGF and on the Canadian Securities Exchange as ACRG.U.

John Schroyer can be reached at johns@mjbizdaily.com