Oregon Hemp Litigation: Failure to Pay for 10,000 Pounds of Seeds Alleged
HempOregonUncategorized August 5, 2019
As we predicted, litigation concerning hemp production continues to rise. At this point, it is the rare week that we do not see at least one new lawsuit on the state or federal docket– and that is just in Oregon. Given the extraordinary growth in hemp licensure and cultivation nationwide, it seems the courts will…
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Oregon Limits the Import and Export of Hemp and Hemp Products
HempOregonUncategorized August 2, 2019
A few weeks ago, we explained what Oregon’s “total THC” testing requirement is and why it matters from a contractual point of view. Today, we further explore this issue and discuss how it is affecting industry players’ ability to export and import hemp and hemp products to the Beaver State. Back in 2018, Oregon law…
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Oregon Cannabis Litigation: Business Between Friends Leads to $4.2 Million Lawsuit
OregonUncategorized July 16, 2019
“A friendship founded on business is a good deal better than a business founded on friendship,” said John D. Rockefeller. In our experience, this adage applies with force in the cannabis industry where –because of its black-market origins – people became accustomed to business arrangements founded on a handshake when recourse from the legal system…
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Oregon’s New Cannabis Laws: The Definitive List
OregonRecreational MarijuanaUncategorized July 10, 2019
The 2019 Oregon legislative session formally concluded on June 30 and it was a doozy. With respect to cannabis, however, the session was significantly less eventful than any conference since 2015 (and that is mostly a good thing). If you’d like to track how we got here, we previewed the 2019 session in March and…
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Oregon Hemp-CBD Litigation: Another Tale on the Importance of Due Diligence Before Contracting
HempOregonUncategorized June 28, 2019
Most of the hemp litigation we’ve written about has concerned a hemp purchaser suing a hemp farmer. This week concerns a $2.5 million lawsuit recently filed in Oregon wherein a hemp farmer sued a CBD processor. The plaintiff, JNV Farms, alleges that in the fall of 2018 it entered into a manufacturing agreement with one…
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Oregon Hemp: ODA’s New “Total THC” Standard is a KEY Operations and Contract Issue
HempOregonUncategorized June 21, 2019
In the past few months, many of our Oregon hemp clients have asked us to clarify the testing requirements imposed by the Oregon Department of Agriculture (“ODA”). Unlike other jurisdictions that only test for tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC” or “delta-9 THC”) concentration, the ODA rules provide that any industrial hemp product sold to consumers must contain no…
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Hemp Contracts: What Business Can Learn from Oregon State’s New Research Facility
HempOregonUncategorized June 20, 2019
Last Thursday, Oregon State University (“OSU”) officials announced plans to launch the Global Hemp Innovation Center (“Hemp Center”). The Hemp Center will be based in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and intends to serve “as a research hub connecting faculty and researchers engaged in plant research, food innovation, pharmacy, public health, public policy, business and…
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Oregon Hemp Litigation: Bad Contract = Big Federal Court Claims
HempOregonUncategorized June 14, 2019
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…
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While Oregon legalized hemp production in 2015, the Beaver State has seen a huge influx of hemp grower and handler registrations since the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp under federal law. To keep up with the growing interest in the crop and its derivatives, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (“ODA”) has…
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Oregon Cannabis: 2019 Legislative Session Update
OregonRecreational MarijuanaUncategorized May 20, 2019
Back on March 1, I ran through a legislative forecast and report for Oregon cannabis in 2019. In that post, I touched on six main issues: hemp, marijuana production limits, interstate sales, social consumption, local grow tax and off-work use. As we move into the home stretch of the 2019 session, each issue has been…
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