Federal judge blasts California officials in hemp-destruction case

(CN) — A federal magistrate judge this week again reprimanded a California county, its sheriff’s office and a state agency over what he called “disingenuous” arguments in a discovery dispute in a case involving the destruction of 500 acres of hemp plants.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Baker for the third time compelled the local and state officials to hand over requested documents and communications to hemp researching company Apothio. He also sanctioned the defendants’ attorney John Whitefleet $3,000, noting it must be paid by him and not charged to his clients.

The ruling stems from the 2020 case filed by Apothio against Kern County, its sheriff’s office and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, among others. Apothio claims the defendants gave no notice before destroying its legal property, valued at $1 billion.

Apothio researches and commercializes hemp plants for food and eventually pharmaceuticals to treat illnesses like epilepsy. It’s said it has authorization under state and federal law.

As part of the suit, Apothio has asked the defendants for certain documents, called the discovery process. Baker, in his Wednesday ruling, noted he determined in August the defendants hadn’t shown proper good faith in trying to resolve the dispute.

“The court found that defendants had ‘acted with unreasonable intransigence’ and stonewalled plaintiff in failing to engage in good faith meet and confer efforts with plaintiffs to resolve the disputes despite plaintiff’s repeated attempts for more than one month to gain defendants’ collaboration,” the judge said in his ruling.

Baker granted that motion, saying a failure to comply could lead to sanctions.

Apothio followed that initial ruling some two weeks later with its second motion to compel, again asking for Baker to order the defendants to hand over certain documents and have them provide a witness for deposition.

The judge agreed, stating that the plaintiffs’ arguments against producing that witness were meritless.

“While the court ultimately sustained some of defendants’ objections in part, it again found several of defendants’ objections plainly lacking in merit and/or nonsensical,” Baker said.

Apothio filed its third motion to compel in October, resulting in Baker’s Wednesday ruling.

Apothio argued the defendants’ response to the second ruling led to documents reaching them belatedly, and only after it said it would seek relief from the judge. It also said the defendants offered unprepared witnesses who only confirmed the search for documents was lacking.

In its October motion, Apothio asked the judge to order the defendants to find and hand over the requested documents, or have a witness explain their efforts in finding that evidence.

The defendants pushed back, saying Apothio failed to meet with them before filing its motion. Also, they said they had already handed over almost 4,000 pages of discovery.

Baker was unconvinced.

“Defendants do not challenge or even acknowledge plaintiff’s characterization of defendants’ stonewalling in either their portion of the joint letter brief or their opposition to plaintiff’s motion to compel,” he said.

Baker in his recent ruling pointed to Whitefleet, noting the attorney at an October hearing said his “understanding” was that people had searched for and produced the requested files. The magistrate judge said Whitefleet is required to perform a reasonable inquiry into whether a request for evidence was proper.

In an argument Baker called astounding, the magistrate judge said Whitefleet argued no emails qualified for Apothio’s discovery request because they didn’t specifically mention a search warrant, its execution or the destruction of the hemp plants.

“Defendants’ recent production of documents — coming only after plaintiff filed two motions to compel and long after the close of nonexpert discovery — along with evidence that other responsive documents still have yet to be produced confirms this court’s conclusion that defendants repeatedly have failed to proceed in good faith,” Baker said.

The magistrate judge then sanctioned Whitefleet $3,000. He also ordered the defendants to pay for Apothio’s reasonable expenses, including attorney fees, caused by their failure to turn over the requested documents. They also must promptly hand over the files.

“The court is unwilling any further to permit defendants to unreasonably consume both plaintiff’s and the court’s time, energy, and limited resources by abdicating their duties to engage in discovery practice reasonably and responsibly,” Baker said.

Attorneys for both sides couldn’t be reached for comment. Whitefleet responded with an automated email stating he was out of the office.