By Rob Meagher

Judge Mitchell L. Hoffman of the Lake County, Ilinois 19th Judicial Circuit Court, dismissed, with prejudice, all counts of claims by Medponics against Kayvan Khalatbari and the Colorado companies he co-founded, Denver Relief and Denver Relief Consulting, finding in favor of the latter’s Motion to Dismiss.

Medponics Illinois filed the suit after an unsuccessful attempt to land a cultivation license in Illinois. Medponics claimed that the defendents were breaking state law because they had a controlling interest in more than three cultivation operations in Illinois.

Khalatbari has an ownership stake in Cresco Labs – which won three cultivation permits in Illinois, including one in the region that Medponics targeted – and a Denver Relief Consulting client won two licenses. Illinois law doesn’t allow for a company to hold more than three permits.

When asked to comment on the dismissal, Khalatbari said,

While it was always clear to me and the rest of the team that this frivolous case was nothing more than sour grapes, it’s incredibly gratifying to have the evidence come out and for a court of law to validate that fact. Hopefully these irresponsible lawsuits in Illinois will cease here soon so we can all focus on the real task at hand, which is building patient counts in the state and developing the strong, responsible medical cannabis program we all set out to create together.”

Medponics attorney Kathleen McDonough, commented,

The judge’s decision was strictly procedural in nature, and hinged on his view that at this point, with no permit having been granted in District 2, Medponics has not been “injured” and therefore does not have standing to bring suit. The evidence obtained by Medponics to date makes clear that Denver Relief wrongfully obtained four Illinois cannabis cultivation permits, and is pursuing a fifth in District 2.  Once the District 2 permit is issued, and if for some reason it is not issued to Medponics, we fully expect the litigation to resume in an effort to recover the monetary and other damages sustained by Medponics.”

Stay tuned.