SCOTUS Sides With Truckdriver Over CBD Claims

Despite the prevalence of medical marijuana laws across the country, there are still a large number of employers who don’t want their employees coming to work high. Warehouses with heavy machinery in use are especially careful, as is the trucking industry. Trucking companies have enough trouble getting their loads to arrive on time without adding to the risk of a driver falling asleep because he smoked the wrong weed.

When driver Doug Horn was asked to take a regular drug screen, he wasn’t worried. He doesn’t smoke. So, naturally, he was surprised when he was fired because the drug screen came back positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. No matter how hard Horn argued that he wasn’t high and that he didn’t smoke while driving, the company stood by the results of the drug test. Horn was without a job.

Horn knew that he hadn’t smoked. He also knew that THC can be found in different edible products now that it is legal in many states. Horn had started taking a new over-the-counter product called Dixie X, a CBD supplement. He took the medicine in hopes that it would help with the shoulder and back pain he often experiences while driving. Nowhere in the point-of-sale advertising was it mentioned that the drug contained THC, only CBD.

Bring on the lawsuit. Not just a normal lawsuit, though. On his attorney’s advice, Horn sued the drug’s maker, Medical Marijuana, Inc., under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). This is the same law that is used to tackle organized crime. Under the RICO act, Horn could receive three times the damages he might be awarded otherwise.

The issue of whether or not this approach is legal sidetracked the whole lawsuit and ended up going to the US Supreme Court. The manufacturer argued that RICO couldn’t be used to sue for personal injuries, only for harm to “business or property.” Horn’s attorney contended that the harm was to his ability to earn a living, which meets the plain definition of “business.”

Writing for the majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett said that Medical Marijuana, Inc., “tried valiantly to engineer a rule that yields its preferred outcomes. When all is said and done, Medical Marijuana is left fighting the most natural interpretation of the text − that ‘injured’ means ‘harmed’ − with no plausible alternative in hand,” she wrote. “That is a battle it cannot win.”

Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented but no one gives a shit because those guys are never any fun anyway.

The US Chamber of Commerce counters that the court has opened the doors to a flood of lawsuits that previously would not have been considered. Three times the rewards? Yeah, that’s going to attract some people and some of those will not be good people. That’s kinda the way the law works.

Anyone making a claim has to show a pattern of racketeering activity and that the illegal activities caused the injury, Easha Anand, an attorney for Horn, told the Supreme Court. In this case, failure to adequately divulge the presence of THC in the product caused Mr. Horn to lose his “business.”

Mind you, the entire lawsuit has yet to be heard. This was simply a procedural matter, a clarification of the law that could make a difference in the outcome of the case but does not necessarily endorse such. Horn’s attorney still has to convince the court that Medical Marijuana, Inc. intentionally hid or failed to disclose the presence of THC on purpose. Ask any mob lawyer and they’ll tell you that proving intent is a tough ask even for the most criminal cases.

Now, Medical Marijuana, Inc., v. Horn heads back to district court, and arguments start all over. At least the attorneys are making good money.