My Work

A group of renegade members of the County of Lake's narcotics task force raided the gardens of numerous medical cannabis patients. Joe represented ten such patients in a federal action against the county, which resulted in a preliminary injunction against the defendants and a settlement of $250,000.

Despite knowing full well that the occupants of their home were innocent and cooperative, the cops came with an extreme display of force and pointed assault rifles at the heads of the innocent homeowners.  This lawsuit seeks to remedy this and deter such actions in the future.

The Barn is a bar in Clearlake Oaks, California that posted a photograph of Carl Ray Harris, an African-American man, with a caption referring to him as a racial slur. In Harris v. The Barn, Joe brought a civil action on Harris' for the violation of his civil rights, and won a settlement of $60,000.

A case challenging a policy depriving Muslim inmates from kosher meals during Ramadan, promulgated by the California Department of Corrections. On August 12, 2021, Joe filed his motion for summary judgment for the plaintiff. The case is on appeal.

A legal challenge, based on irregularities in the City's commercial cannabis permitting scheme.

United States v. Rosenthalinvolved a highly publicized federal criminal trial of author and activist Edward Rosenthal, for his cultivation of approximately 3,000 cannabis plants under California law. Although Rosenthal faced a ten-year minimum sentence, he was only sentenced to one-day, time served for his convictions. Joe drafted both the pre-trial motions to dismiss and, later, a successful appeal of Rosenthal's convictions.

The issue before the California Supreme Court was whether medical cannabis patients are protected from workplace discrimination based on their status as medical cannabis patients. In a hotly contested 5-2 decision, the California Supreme Court unfortunately rejected Ross' claims.

While incarcerated, Michael Brodheim was threatened with retaliation by the Department of Corrections for filing a grievance against a corrections officer who gave him an improper command. After the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, Joe intervened in the appeal and obtained a published opinion reinstating Brodheim's civil suit for the violation of his First Amendment right to seek redress of grievances.

To procure further evidence of irregularities in the City of Fresno's Cannabis Business Permit application process, Joe filed a request for information from the City under California's Public Records Act. After the City refused to disclose numerous records, Joe filed a lawsuit to compel the City to disclose withheld documents.

Marijuana's placement in Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act has always been erroneous. Joe litigated this issue before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the court refused to reschedule marijuana.

In 2013, the legality of medical cannabis dispensaries under California remained a hotly contested issue. Joe brought a successful appeal of Jackson's convictions, which for the first time established the legality of properly organized medical cannabis dispensaries under California law.

Until 2007, California courts disagreed over whether medical cannabis seized by the police must be returned to qualified medical cannabis patients. After the police refused to comply with a court order for the return of Felix Kha's medicine, Joe successfully defeated the City's appeal, which established the right of medical cannabis patients to the return of cannabis improperly seized by the police.

Prior to the court's opinion in Garden Grove, the CHP had a written policy authorizing its officers to seize cannabis from qualified patients. Joe filed suit on behalf of six patients, which resulted in a change of this policy.

Until 2008, multiple DMV offices revoked the driver's licenses of medical cannabis patients based on their status as such. Joe file a Writ petition on Johnson's behalf in the court, which led to the restoration of Johnson's driver's license, and also resulted in a permanent change in DMV policy.

Medical marijuana cultivator Brian Chaplin was the victim of an armed robbery at his cultivation site in which the robbers stole approximately fifty pounds of marijuana. When he called the police to report the crime, the police turned their attention on Chaplin, rather than the armed robbers, and obtained a search warrant to seize his remaining 350 pounds of marijuana. Joe filed a complaint on Chaplin's behalf, which attracted the attention of Rolling Stone Magazine, and resulted in a sizeable settlement.

Despite the promise of the Compassionate Use Act that qualified medical marijuana patients would be allowed to cultivate their medicine, the City of Clearlake passed on ordinance banning all such cultivation. Joe filed a civil suit on behalf of three patients challenging this ordinance, which compelled the city to repeal it.

Seven medical cannabis patients formed a collective under California law in which they cultivated 41 plants for the medical use. After plaintiffs were forced by the sheriff to destroy the majority of the cannabis plants, Joe filed a lawsuit on behalf of the patients and won a published opinion establishing that medical marijuana patients, like anyone, can file civil suits for the illegal destruction of their property.

The tension between federal and state law regarding their treatment of cannabis came to the fore in County of San Diego v. San Diego NORML. Working with the ACLU and Drug Policy Alliance, Joe intervened in the lawsuit and overcame the County's claim the federal law preempts California's medical marijuana law and requiring it to comply with the latter.

After Ross, employers would deny unemployment benefits to medical cannabis patients terminated for using their medicine. In Jesse Ewing v. Valley Transportation Authority, Joe filed an appeal of the denial of unemployment benefits to Ewing with the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and got Ewing's unemployment benefits reinstated.

After serving 25 years, Way Long's five-year supervised release was terminated.

After serving a lengthy prison sentence for medical marijuana, Aaron Sandusky now fights to end his 5-year supervised release.