May 2016 Volume 16, Issue 5
Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker 
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I am delighted to report that the federal government has dismissed its lawsuit seeking to seize the building in which one of Oakland's permitted medical cannabis dispensary's operates.
 
Three and a half years ago, I filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Attorney and the U.S. Attorney General to stop the seizure and protect Oakland's right to regulate and license medical cannabis dispensaries under state law. The dismissal of the federal government's action is a major victory for Oakland and for medical cannabis patients and marks a significant shift in the federal government's policies regarding medical cannabis.
 
Also in this month's newsletter: An update on the City's lawsuit against Monsanto for contaminating Oakland's stormwater and the San Francisco Bay with toxic PCBs, and the City Attorney in the Community
 
As always, I look forward to your questions and comments about the work we are doing on behalf of the people of Oakland.
 
 
 Barbara J. Parker
 Oakland City Attorney
 
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Federal Government Dismisses Forfeiture Case Targeting Medical Cannabis Dispensary 
     
Three and a half years after I sued the U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Attorney to stop the federal government's seizure of the building in which one of Oakland's permitted medical cannabis dispensaries operates, the federal government dismissed its lawsuit with prejudice. This means the feds are precluded from re-filing this action.
 
On May 10th, the U.S. Attorney's Office dismissed its forfeiture action without any public explanation. 

This means that the dispensary, Harborside Health Center, is free to continue operating under California and Oakland laws. I hope the dismissal also signals a major change in our federal government's policies regarding medical cannabis, and for that matter regarding marijuana in general.
 
 
Much has changed since I filed our lawsuit in October 2012.
 
At that time, the government was aggressively cracking down on medical cannabis operations, despite assurances by high level federal officials that the government would not pursue cannabis businesses that were operating under state law.
 
A few months before we filed our case, the feds raided and shut down Oaksterdam, one of the pioneers of the industry in Oakland.
 
President Obama and other officials had announced that medical marijuana was not a law enforcement priority, and that "we have bigger fish to fry."
 
Yet the government was still aggressively prosecuting medical cannabis dispensaries operating under California law, resulting in the closure of hundreds of dispensaries across the state, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In one case, the U.S. Attorney threatened to seize the property of a dispensary operating in Marin County and prosecute the landlord for drug dealing. That dispensary closed.
 
After the government raided Oaksterdam and filed its action to seize Harborside's building, I decided that the City of Oakland must get involved in this fight. I sued to stop the seizure because the closure would harm Oakland patients and public safety, and because we had relied on the government's statements to license these dispensaries in the first place. 
 
This was an important case for Oakland. We were not just fighting the seizure of a building, we were standing up for Oakland's right to regulate and license medical cannabis dispensaries under state law, and performing our duty to protect the health and safety of our citizens who rely on these dispensaries to alleviate pain and suffering from serious illnesses.
  
The federal trial court ruled against us, holding that Oakland did not have standing to sue the federal government. But there was silver lining: the Court granted our request to stay (i.e., hold in abeyance) the forfeiture proceedings against Harborside and its sister dispensary in San Jose until the City completed the appeals process. 

That process concluded recently when the U.S. Supreme Court denied our petition for review. As a consequence of our lawsuit and the stay, Harborside's two dispensaries were able to continue operating for nearly four years after the government filed its forfeiture action.
 
Oakland owes a debt of gratitude to attorney Cedric Chao, a senior partner at DLA Piper. Cedric also believed in this fight and handled the case for Oakland at no cost. He began his work on the case while he was a partner at Morrison & Foerester, and DLA Piper took the mantle when he joined that firm.
 
Cedric and his team worked tirelessly with us on the U.S. District Court case and on our appeal. Together we fought all the way up to petition the U.S. Supreme Court. If Cedric had charged the City for his work, this case would have cost Oakland taxpayers and residents more than $1 million.
 
I want to acknowledge and thank Cedric, DLA Piper and Morrison & Foerster for their dedication, their brilliance and tireless work and service on Oakland's behalf. 
 
From the outset of this litigation, I said that regardless of the outcome of our lawsuit, the federal government was fighting a losing battle. 
 
In the nearly four years since the federal government filed its forfeiture action, there has been a major evolution in public opinion and a shift in the landscape of national politics on this issue. The American people are recognizing that cannabis is not only a legitimate medicine, but that federal laws outlawing marijuana have been wasteful and harmful, especially to communities of color, where people have been disproportionately arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated for possession of cannabis.
 
So the government's decision to end its action against Harborside is an excellent and just outcome for Harborside and for patients, and the dismissal removes the cloud over Oakland's regulatory framework for dispensaries under California law.
 
I hope the next step will be the end of the ineffective and costly (in both financial and human terms) prohibition against cannabis in California and our entire nation.

Positive developments regarding our lawsuit against Monsanto for contaminating Oakland stormwater and the SF Bay with PCBs

In May, two promising developments occurred regarding our lawsuit against the Monsanto chemical company.
 
In November 2015, I sued the Monsanto chemical company to hold it accountable for its long-standing contamination of Oakland's storm water and the San Francisco Bay with highly toxic Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCBs).
 
Monsanto was the sole producer of PCBs for decades prior to 1979, when the federal government banned the chemicals - used in everything from paints to electronics - because they endanger human and environmental health.
 
Although evidence confirms that Monsanto knew PCBs were toxic and becoming "a global contaminant" well before the 1979 ban, it concealed this information and continued to profit from selling the chemicals.
 
In May, a jury in St. Louis awarded $46.5 million to three plaintiffs who sued Monsanto for negligence related to the company's continued sales of PCBs even after it knew the compounds were dangerous.
 
This is a positive development for Oakland, because it puts more pressure on Monsanto to do the right thing and agree to pay to clean up its own mess. Those costs will be substantial as PCBs are a common environmental contaminant in all natural resources including water and plants as well as the tissues of marine life, animals and humans.
 
One of the jurors in the St. Louis case told the press: "I think it goes to show that large companies can put stuff out there that's harmful and they can do it for a long time but that justice is going to be served whether it's a year after the products are put out, or in this case, 80 years."
 
In another positive development, on May 24 the U.S. House of Representatives passed an update to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act without language that could have provided Monsanto immunity from lawsuits like Oakland's.
 
In our March newsletter, I described a paragraph in the House version of the bill known as the "Monsanto Clause" that could have blocked cities and states from suing Monsanto or passing their own laws and regulations regarding PCBs.

The paragraph was stricken from the bill after a report by the New York Times and rising opposition to the language which could have residents and taxpayers pay twice - first by suffering health-related injuries and second by shouldering the burden to clean up Monsanto's contamination, an unconscionable and blatant giveaway to Monsanto.

I'm grateful that this transparent quid-pro-quo for a company that makes significant campaign contributions to House Republicans did not become law, and that Oakland and other cities will have a chance to hold Monsanto accountable for the massive fraud it perpetrated against our entire planet.
 
City Attorney in the Community
 
Warren Parker
Meeting Sen. Elizabeth Warren
 
Last week, I flew to my law school alma mater, Harvard Law School, to attend Shannon Tori Anderson's graduation. Tori is the daughter of my dear friend Dianne Millner, who is Special Counsel in my office, supervising real property matters. 
 
The graduation ceremony and the receptions were a magical experience. The other highlight of the trip was meeting Senator Elizabeth Warren and her husband, Harvard Law professor Bruce Mann, at a reception at their home.  They both were so gracious and so down-to-earth.  Senator Warren was energetic, authentic and compelling. I am excited about the work she is doing and the courage she is demonstrating in fighting for justice and equality.  

I thanked her for her work and for her searing and appropriate indictment of the presumptive Republican nominee's platform. She clearly is a shining star and inspires us to believe that we can secure a more perfect union.

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