Health News Florida | By Dara Kam - News Service of Florida
OG Article: here.
View our Fair Use Policy: here.
An administrative law judge rules that the Pigford license earmarked for Moton Hopkins should not go to his heirs and partners because they are not members of a "recognized class."
Florida health regulators were correct to deny a medical marijuana license to partners and heirs of an 84-year-old man who died before the state made a final decision about awarding the license, an administrative law judge ruled.
Moton Hopkins, an Ocala farmer and rancher, was among a dozen applicants for a medical marijuana license earmarked for a Black farmer who was a “recognized class member” in class-action lawsuits over lending discrimination by the federal government.
Although Department of Health officials gave Hopkins’ application the top score of the batch, they rejected the application because he died before the licensing process was complete. Hopkins’ heirs and partners challenged the decision, arguing that the state illegally relied on an “unpromulgated rule” in denying the license.
But Administrative Law Judge Gary Early on Tuesday upheld the health officials’ decision. “Not to be overly simplistic, but the only material fact bearing on this case is whether any of the petitioners listed in the style of this proceeding are ‘a recognized class member’ of the referenced litigation. They are not. The only recognized class member was Moton Hopkins, individually, and he is deceased. Thus, there is no living applicant to whom the license may be issued,” Early wrote.
A 2017 law that provided an overall framework for the medical marijuana industry required health officials to issue a license to people with ties to the class-action litigation — known as the “Pigford” litigation.
State health officials began accepting applications for the Black farmer license in March, and in September announced they intended to grant the license to Suwannee County farmer Terry Donnell Gwinn. All of the applicants who lost out are challenging the decision. The losing applicants’ challenges have been referred for “informal hearings” within the Department of Health.
In an administrative complaint filed in January, Hopkins’ lawyers argued the license should go to the entity --- not the individual --- affiliated with the application. The lawyers asked Early to determine whether health officials “erroneously relied on an unadopted rule that ‘licensure qualifications’ are ‘personal to’ Hopkins.”
Thomas Sosnowski, a lawyer who represents the Hopkins applicants, told the News Service of Florida on Wednesday that Early’s ruling is expected to be appealed to the Tallahassee-based 1st District Court of Appeal.
Sosnowski noted that, during a hearing Friday, an attorney representing the Department of Health likened the Black farmer’s marijuana license to a plumber’s license.
“As we’ll argue on appeal, the department’s interpretation that the Pigford license is like a plumber’s license and Judge Early’s ruling agreeing with the department, that calls into question the entire (Pigford) license provision in the statute, because, as we’ll explain in our appeal papers, that interpretation is unconstitutional,” he said.
A 2016 constitutional amendment authorizing medical marijua