By Andrea Papagianis
In a closed session meeting Tuesday, the City Council rejected a settlement offer from Holistic Health, a Dana Point marijuana dispensary that was shut down in 2011, City Attorney Patrick Munoz confirmed, but would not elaborate on details of the proposed deal.
“They made a settlement offer, we rejected it, and will continue moving forward with the case,” Munoz said. “But in light of the California Supreme Court’s recent ruling, we will be pursuing Holistic Health’s violations of city zoning codes at the upcoming trial.”
In a unanimous decision earlier this month, the state’s highest court gave local jurisdictions the authority to use zoning and land-use ordinances to ban marijuana dispensaries.
When the city began looking into area pot shops, officials alleged they were in violation of the city’s zoning ordinances, Munoz said. But, rather than pursuing that route of enforcement, the city questioned whether or not dispensaries were complying with state law, which bars marijuana dispensaries from operating as for-profit businesses, he said.
Holistic Health, along with other dispensaries, was red-tagged and shuttered in 2011. They city was awarded $2.68 million by an Orange County Superior Court judge in May of that year, but Garrison Williams, former owner of the dispensary, carried his case to the 4th District Court of Appeals, which ruled in his favor.
The appellate court found there were still facts to be tried and the case.
A trial setting hearing in Orange County Superior Court for Tuesday has been continued to Tuesday, June 11. Munoz said he anticipates the trial will likely be set for some time in August or September.
Why would Munoz want to settle? Dana Point is his cash cow.
The crazy thing here is that the city has nothing to gain. Why not settle if they are willing not to reopen. Even if they get a ruling in their favor at trial the city is not going to collect anything. The collectives and the owners have nothing. So lets spend another 200-500K at trial for what? Why in the world is the council still pursuing this? The collectives have been shut down for over 2 years. They have proven their point. I we don’t want you in our town we will violate any of your rights we want and spend millions to get you out.
What if the collective wins? Then the city will owe tons of money in damages and have to pay for their attorney fees. Why are people in this community not demanding to fire Munoz? He hasn’t won a single case having to do with this and has collected over 2million in fees for what his incompetence? Rutan and Tucker have been fired for representing other cities in Orange county recently because of their outrageous fees and because they never win!
Munoz and the city council are idiots!
This is Garrison of Holistic Health. Once again Munoz and the city tell 1/2 the truth. I am 44 years old, never been convicted of any crime other than a traffic ticket. My background is dealing with cancer patients and working in the medical industry selling surgical equipment for almost 20 years. I am a white collar professional and they have made me out to be a drug dealer. I want you to hear my side of this story that hasn’t been told!
All we ever tried to do is help seriously ill patients in this area now i’m being persecuted for it. The city is literally trying to ruin me financially for the rest of my life. For what, opening a store to try and help people?
Many of you are unaware of a few things so I will tell you. The city had a false judgement against me that was later overturned by the higher courts because of a corrupt judge (Chaffee). They broke into my house and stole all of my property. They literally left me and my family sitting on the floor with no furniture. I had a teenage daughter in high school at the time, that was left with no bed to sleep in, no table to eat on, no desk to study. They literally took everything, even my pillows! Wonder how much they could get for those. They went to my bank and wiped out my accounts. Had to borrow money from my family to spend weeks in hotel room until I could get a court to order them to give my property back. My family was left to living out their suitcases and staying with friends.
I have lost my house, my cars, my job, all because of this lawsuit. They slandered my name in the community and now everyone I meet relates this case with my name. Now after me winning again in Appeals court, the city spending millions and the store shut down for over 2 years they still want a judgement for millions of dollars against me.
They broke into our store and stole HH property. They have been ordered to return all our property and have not to this day. They are in contempt of court.
Our case is a lot different than the other cases because we did have a license issued by the city to operate. We were not violating zoning codes as claimed. We went to the city and filed for a license. The city officials knew what we were planning on doing in the operation when we applied for the license. They issued it to us any way. They even have admitted they knew what we were and issued the license any way. Then sued us two weeks after opening. Certainly unethical and maybe unlawful. We will see.
I will continue the fight against this corrupt city government and Patrick Munoz. They have nothing to show so far for the millions in attorney fees. We have won every case they have filed against us so far. Thats 5 cases by the way. At what point does this become malicious prosecution? The corrupt orange county superior court judges have ruled against medical marijuana cases every time to my knowledge and have been overturned every time in the higher courts. Not a very good record. Why is this not being report on? Why is the dana point times not reporting about how my civil rights have been violated on numerous occasions?
If in the long run the city prevails, they will have nothing to show for it. They will never be able to collect from me, because I have nothing left! So go ahead spend a few more hundred thousand dollars of Dana Point Taxpayer money so Munoz can live high on the hog!
Now as far as the settlement offer, here is the truth:
Munoz contacted us with a settlement offer that we declined and countered with a mutual walk away by both parties. Munoz responded with his normal rude demeanor declining the offer. Bottom line, we have been closed for over two years and the case and dollars spent by both parties is ridiculous!
As mentioned in other comments above, Munoz wants to continue se he can collect Dana Point tax payer dollars for as long as possible. The guy is a scum bag.
I recently moved my family to Dana Point and am newly following this story. I find it beyond appalling that the City of Dana Point is still actively pursuing the proprietor. This is a disgusting abuse of power by Patrick Munoz and the City of Dana Point. Garrison, I hope you continue to fight this and bring light to the fact that our city council is brain dead and their legal council is morally corrupt. Way to go Dana Point!!
I was a patient at your collective.
While I do not agree with Dana Point’s anti MMJ Stance or Patrick Munoz’s War on MMJ..
I have to say.. You were not doing things the right way.
My first time going there I was let in without showing any documents or ID’s. Your medication was the worst in the area by far..
Werent you trying to sell supplements in the lobby too? I remember the secretary saying.. “Having these products on display keeps the city away”
The city should drop it’s case..
And you should figure the industry out a little better before opening a new collective.
Dave I’m sorry but nobody was ever let in to my knowledge without showing full documentation. IF someone was and I knew about that staff member that allowed it would have been fired on the spot. We ran everything to the letter of the law! If an error was made I was not aware of it.
As for the vitamins and supplements and Chinese herbal remedies we sold. All of that was for customers with those needs. I find it very hard to believe that any of our staff members would have ever said that. Unfortunately good help is hard to find but the majority of my staff always tried thier best to follow the rules and realy cared about the people they serviced.
Thanks for the support concerning the case