LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Lake County judge has ruled that a man who sued the county last year over its temporary medical marijuana cultivation ordinance is not entitled to legal fees in the case.
Retired Lake County Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann filed the decision on Dec. 11, ruling that Don Merrill's request for attorney's fees and costs didn't meet the criteria.
Merrill's attorney, Joseph Elford, did not respond to messages left by Lake County News seeking comment.
County Counsel Anita Grant said Merrill originally requested $145,320. He later submitted a supplemental request to the court, which court documents showed sought another 19.9 hours of compensation at $500 per hour, increasing the total amount by nearly $10,000 more.
Merrill and three anonymous plaintiffs filed suit against the county in July 2012, days after the Board of Supervisors passed the temporary ordinance limiting plant numbers according to parcel size. They contended that that the ordinance's limits were not enough to satisfy their medical needs.
Merrill had been a member of a county-appointed advisory board working to create a permanent marijuana cultivation ordinance. Shortly after his suit was filed, the Board of Supervisors disbanded the group, citing the lawsuit as one of the reasons.
In August 2012, Judge David Herrick granted Merrill and his co-plaintiffs a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the ordinance, ruling that anyone with plants in the ground by the time the ordinance was passed – and who was growing in accordance with Proposition 215 – should be able to complete the growing season.
Herrick emphasized that the injunction was limited, and that its protections were up by Jan. 1 of this year.
The case did not get to the permanent injunction phase, with since-retired Senior County Counsel Bob Bridges filing a motion for summary judgment this spring.
The day Merrill's response to the summary judgment filing was due – June 13 – the case was dropped, according to court records. At that time, Merrill was the last plaintiff remaining in the case.
The case was dropped about a month after the California Supreme Court issued a decision in the City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center Inc., which upheld the land use planning powers of local governments.
Later in the summer Merrill filed the request for attorney's fees, according to court records.
Bridges and the county argued that Herrick had based his preliminary injunction decision on a decision in a case that has since been rejected by the higher courts. As such, the county claimed that Merrill wasn't the prevailing party and so couldn't receive costs and fees because of a faulty judgment.
Mann's decision did not go into detail, only noting that Merrill's request did not meet required criteria for reimbursement requests.
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