Curaleaf Being Sued In PA For Breach Of Commercial Lease

Regent Development, a Pennsylvania real estate company, is suing Curaleaf Holdings Inc. CURA CURLF, alleging the multi-state cannabis operator (MSO) breached a lease on commercial property. Curaleaf operates 134 local dispensaries and 26 cultivation sites in 22 states,

According to the lawsuit, which was recently transferred to PA's Eastern District Court, the Massachusetts-based, deliberately failed to obtain a license and regulatory approval to operate a dispensary on the subject property after acquiring another company. which already had the approvals in place, as reported by Law360.

The lawsuit also alleges that Curaleaf:

• Signed a lease on commercial property in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, in 2017.
• Was not allowed to terminate his lease unless he made an effort to obtain regulatory approvals to open a dispensary there.
• Acquired the medical cannabis company Grassroots, which had a licensed dispensary near the King of Prussia property, in 2019 or 2020.
• Avoided contacting Regent until its lease was terminated and MSO's real estate consultant reported that the company had already obtained licenses elsewhere, as MJBizDaily reported.

According to the removal notice, Regent alleges that Curaleaf is required to pay the minimum rent and additional rent for up to 60 months after receiving final regulatory approval, as well as an additional five years of rent.

“Curaleaf denies Regent’s allegations and further denies it has any liability to Regent whatsoever,” reads the removal notice.

However, it's not all bad news for the MSO. Recently, employees at Curaleaf’s Edgewater, NJ., dispensary voted to organize as members of United Food and Commercial Workers. The Curaleaf location in Edgewater originally served only medical marijuana patients, but now also serves the adult-use market.

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Photo: Courtesy of Scott Graham On Unsplash