California’s state Supreme Court last week de-published a prior ruling that said cannabis was illegal in the state due to federal law, the Santa Barbara Independent reports. The decision is related to a twice-appealed lawsuit filed by a Lompoc property owner who sued the County of Santa Barbara after the Board of Supervisors allowed cannabis to be transported on an easement road that runs through her property.
While both the property owner and county remain bound by the prior ruling, the de-publishing of the ruling means it can no longer be used as a legal precedent for other cases moving forward.
The property owner first sued the county in 2021 after officials granted a conditional use permit to a cannabis company to grow and transport cannabis; however, the company relied on an easement road that runs through a property owned by JCCrandall LLC. JCCrandall claimed that, under the terms of the 1998 easement, the road could not be used for federally illegal activities and, therefore, the permit was issued to the cannabis company unlawfully.
A Superior Court judge denied JCCrandall’s claims in 2023 but that decision was overturned on appeal by a District Court Judge, and the cannabis company’s conditional use permit was rescinded in October 2024 on the grounds that the easement did “not include the illegal transport of cannabis.” That decision was set to be published and used as legal precedent throughout the state until the California Supreme Court agreed to de-publish the ruling while maintaining the courts’ orders.
