Catalyst civil complaint against fellow CA cannabis firm Glass House dismissed

(This story has been updated to include comments from Glass House.)

A civil complaint against cannabis producer and retailer Glass House Brands by fellow California operator Catalyst Cannabis Co. has been dismissed and a summary judgment issued.

The Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County on July 15 granted Glass House’s motion for judgment with prejudice and ordered Catalyst’s holding company, 562 Discount Med, to pay legal costs related to the lawsuit, according to a news release.

Glass House President Graham Farrar told MJBizDaily the lawsuit was frivolous and the company can now focus on bigger issues.

“But more importantly we are happy to be able to put the waste of time and energy and resources, for all sides, behind us,” he said via text.

“We are hopeful that we can stop the infighting and instead unite as an industry on the many common challenges, like over taxation and not enough legal access, that would benefit patients, consumers and all of the industry over all.”

The legal skirmish between the Long Beach-headquartered companies began in mid-June 2023, when Catalyst CEO Elliot Lewis alleged in a lawsuit that Glass House was “one of the largest, if not the largest, black marketers of cannabis in the State of California, if not the country.”

The court granted Glass House’s motion for judgment, ruling that an injunction to halt alleged illegal sales would “assume the functions of an administrative agency, or to interfere with the functions of an administrative agency.”

The court was referencing California’s primary marijuana regulator, the Department of Cannabis Control.

The court also said the enforcement of any injunction would be “overly burdensome.”

The ruling effectively ends a year of in-fighting between two of the largest operators.

Glass House countered in late June 2023, filing a defamation suit accusing Catalyst, Lewis and co-founder Damian Martin of running a “systemic defamatory social media campaign” that “falsely” compared Glass House “to a Mexican drug cartel.”

Then, in May, Glass House withdrew its defamation lawsuit against Catalyst, citing concerns about revealing sensitive customer information, among other factors.

Catalyst is one of the state’s largest retail chains with 30 locations; Glass House is one of California’s largest vertically integrated operators.

Glass House shares trade as GLAS.A.U on the Cboe Canada stock exchange and GLASF on the over-the-counter markets.

The company’s shares were up 1.8%, to $7.05, as of midday Monday.

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