Understanding Litigation over Revocation
Hey, OMMA-licensed business owners. I’m Katrina Lucas, and I’m a Tulsa medical marijuana attorney with Wirth Law Office.
Let’s talk about litigation and how much it costs to defend your license from an OMMA revocation. A revocation will come through as a finding, a fee issue, or some other violation, and it will arrive as a petition from OMMA. It will go before an administrative law court, and we’ll go through all the typical phases of litigation.
The Phases of Litigation
We’re going to go through discovery, motions, and communication patterns. This isn’t as in-depth of a procedure as you would see in civil litigation—it’s more akin to a criminal situation where we’re going to ask discovery questions but not fight about them as much. Anyone who’s done normal litigation knows that discovery can be one of the slowest and most expensive parts of the process.
After discovery, we’ll move to pretrial disclosures, witness exhibits, and preparation for trial. Once that trial date arrives, we’ll have a judge and the other side present—just like a courtroom setting. You’re looking at between $5,000 and $10,000 in costs for the average Oklahoma attorney, and that’s per license.
Financial Impacts and Decision Making
It also becomes a question of when those fines are assessed and when all the costs are added up. Does it make more sense to try to keep that license, or to settle—give up the license, pay fines and fees, and move on as early as possible? That’s part of the discussion you should be having with any attorney representing you in this space.
The financial impact to a business is extremely significant. You may not lose the ability to process or use your license until we have a hearing on the matter. It could be revoked, or it could be temporarily allowed until trial is complete. It’s fact-intensive, and that all goes into the costs associated with this. OB&DD and other agencies also come into play.
Consultations for OMMA and OB&DD Petitions
So, if you have any questions about either an OMMA petition or an OB&DD petition, give us a call here at Wirth Law Office. We’d love to talk to you about it. Call us at (918) 932-2879 for a consultation.
This is Katrina Lucas, a Tulsa OMMA compliance attorney with Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Stay safe, stay legal.