Pubdate: Fri, 11 Jan 2013
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2013 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: Richard K. De Atley

Medical Marijuana

COLLECTIVE'S CORPORATE STATUS TO BE FIXED

A Riverside medical marijuana collective's status as a suspended 
corporation will be fixed before the state Supreme Court hears 
arguments next month over the clinic's lawsuit that local governments 
overstepped their constitutional bounds by banning storefront 
dispensaries, its lawyer said.

J. David Nick, the attorney for Inland Empire Patient's Health and 
Wellness Center said Thursday, Jan. 10 that the suspended corporate 
status was the result of an error on a state tax return, and the 
center was working "feverishly" with another lawyer to put it back in 
good standing with the California Secretary of State's office.

The court earlier this week had sent attorneys for the center a 
letter notifying them that the center's corporate status was 
"suspended" as of Jan. 4, which disabled it from being a litigant in 
the high stakes case. Arguments are scheduled for Feb. 5

The court gave attorneys until the end of the business day Thursday 
to respond. Nick said his office would file information about the 
effort to reinstate the center, along with legal citations about how 
the court should allow it to continue as a litigant in the in the 
case. He said he expected the center to be reinstated by the end of 
the month. Corporations that are litigants get priority on status 
appeals, he said.

He said the case can continue anyway with individuals and a property 
management company who are also defendants in the matter.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom