Canopy Growth gets green light to move forward with suit against CA hemp farm

Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth has the go-ahead to continue its lawsuit against a California farm it accuses of misusing a deposit and killing hemp plants worth millions.

Canopy Growth is suing Research and Development Farming (RDF) of California’s Central Valley, which contracted to grow 500 acres of hemp for the Ontario company in 2019.

In a lawsuit filed in July, Canopy said the California grower misused a $1.69 million deposit and killed hemp plants. A federal judge recently ruled the lawsuit can proceed, rebuffing an attempt to have the case tossed.

Back in April, the companies signed an agreement in which Canopy would give 55,000 hemp seedlings to the California farm to grow and harvest on a contract basis.

RDF claimed in an October court filing that Canopy didn’t abide by contract terms and interfered with the project.

At a Nov. 8 hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer denied RDF’s attempt to dismiss Canopy’s remaining claims. The judge also denied RDF’s request to seize the farm’s bank accounts while the suit proceeds.

Canopy is also suing and being sued by Go Farm Hemp, a Henderson, Nevada-headquartered company which it hired to produce hemp in Colorado, Kentucky, New York and North Carolina in 2019.

Canopy trades on the New York Stock Exchange as CGC and the Toronto Stock Exchange as WEED.

Company officials told investors Thursday in a quarterly earnings call that its U.S. hemp expansion plans remain on track.

Read more about the Canopy-RDF lawsuit here.