Court: Neighbors can sue pot grower for stinky smells

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press
Updated 4:48 pm, Wednesday, June 7, 2017


DENVER (AP) — A pot farm's neighbor can sue them for smells and other nuisances that could harm their property values, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling revives a lawsuit between a Colorado horse farm and a neighboring marijuana-growing warehouse.

The horse farm's owners, the Reillys, sued in 2015, claiming that the pot-growing warehouse would diminish their land's value by emitting "noxious odors" and attracting unsavory visitors. A federal district court dismissed the Reillys' claim, and the pot warehouse opened in 2016.

The horse farm owners appealed, and a three-judge appeals panel agreed Wednesday that their claims should be heard. But the judges said the Reillys can't sue Colorado to force the state to enforce federal drug law and not allow the pot warehouse in the first place.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Court-Neighbors-can-sue-pot-grower-for-stinky-11203389.php

[Lebam in LA]

1. A pot farm smells more than a horse farm????

Are you frigging kidding?

I'd much rather smell pot than horse crap

[jayfish]

3. Really?

Everything I smell these days smells like skunk. From the cheapest rag-weed to the most expensive whatever. Skunks smell that way for a reason. It's not pleasant.

[RobinA]

17. I Noticed That

As a former partaker who hasn't been around the stuff for decades, I was at a concert not too long ago and smelled this smell that could only be described as skunk. I soon realized it was weed not smelling at all like the weed I remembered. I could get used to it, however.

[Codeine]

11. No way. Horse shit smells infinitely better

than weed. Weed is noxious and headachy.

[MrModerate]

14. I'm certain that's a minority opinion. n/t

[elleng]

2. SMELLY complained by owners of a HORSE FARM?!

[Matthew28]

4. Anything to stop

pot and the people that wish to use it.

Republicans are very controlling...They just hate helping people...They'll go all day long attacking you and your freedoms.

[Nevernose]

5. What the hell is a horse farm?

Is that some weird term for "ranch" I'm unfamiliar with? What's the growing season like? How deep do you have to plant horses?

[hardluck]

7. Someone should tell the writer

That the stuff coming out the back of the horse aren't seeds...

[obamanut2012]

21. the writer is correct, they are called horse farms

[obamanut2012]

22. "Horse farm" is the correct term, and has been around forever

It is nothing at all unusual.

[freddyvh]

6. i wish

we could sue here in the midwest after a hog or cattle lot moves in

[ghostsinthemachine]

8. Can I sue Burger King, Jack in the Box and the Chinese

Restaurant by my house for stinking up the neighborhood? Way worse, if you ask me. If I was to sell, no way a vegetarian would buy this property.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

18. It's been done.

A stinker of a legal case: Law firm sues burger joint over cooking smells

By Amanda Becker
Monday, October 11, 2010

When Rogue States entered D.C.'s crowded field of hamburger joints last February, it didn't quite count on the reception it would receive.

In no time, staff at the powerful Steptoe & Johnson law firm next door started complaining about the smell. And they didn't stop there. Steptoe soon contacted the Boston Properties affiliate that manages the firm's offices on Connecticut Avenue. It called Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's office and that of D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), and rang up the city's fire, health and consumer affairs departments, the latter of which issued one violation. ... Not satisfied with the steps taken by Rogue States and its landlord, Steptoe then filed suit.
....

Much of the trial testimony last week centered around a contentious tour of both Rogue States and Steptoe that was arranged on Sept. 8, when specialists were called in by both sides to evaluate whether cooking smells were indeed wafting into the law firm's offices and whether the source of such fumes was in fact Rogue States.

The specialist who serviced the new Smog-Hog exhaust system at the restaurant, Nelson Dilg, testified that during his tour "a blind man" could see the fumes were coming from a vent that connected to the House of Kabob. ... Dilg said his effort to determine the true source of the odor was undercut by the animosity of the meeting at Steptoe, with those present refusing to answer his questions unless they were deposed.

[ghostsinthemachine]

19. There ya go. I actually live next to a horse farm, and grow pot

Got no problem with neighbors. I live in a county that is very open to becoming the Napa valley of pot. Lots of horse farms (and they are usually referred to that way as in "Blackstone Farms&quot . My closest neighbors are horse farmers, who also have a horsecentric B and B. Lots of vineyards and a LOT OF POT. greenhouses popping up everywhere. Almost unlimited grows, all legal. Mine is only about 20 plants, various strains. Not so much for profit but just something to keep everyone here at the farm happy, and healthy. We grow nut trees, fruit trees and are a working farm with three generations living here.

My last house was real close to 15 fast food and other restaurants. And right behind a supermarket. I grew pot there too and my neighbors, owners of an assisted living house, were constantly in my face about it. But they had an ordinance and I was in compliance. The guy had all of the city council come out, view my garden (and the neighbor on the other side's garden). They were taking photos and I decided it would be a good time to tend to my crop and photo them. It was noon and the aromas coming out of all those restaurants, was overwhelming. The area is known as a basin and they just hung in the air. Those aromas overwhelmed any pot smell, and all I talked with the council members, I told them how I had to live with that morning to night, every day of the year, not the two months of growing season. They did nothing. The ordinance(really a lack of an ordinance, where CA law supercedes) and my asshole neighbor finally shut up. He also found out that a few of his residents got pot from me (mostly free), so he hasn't hassled anyone for years, after being a giant asshole for years.

[not fooled]

9. OK, so does this ruling impact

people living near concentrated animal feeding operations? Many state govts seem to have been bought out by Big Ag to let those smell factories operate near other property owners who are harmed.

?

[forgotmylogin]

10. Pot Farm-Horse Farm

Sounds like optimal zoning to me.

[Greensix1]

12. Oh boy, I can hardly Wait

Every week or so Foster Farms, in Livingston, CA burns wet chicken feathers and it stinks up the whole town. I can easily see thousands of lawsuits about the smell if the Supreme Court allows the generation of odors to be a legal reason to sue. Get ready Foster Farms, you're gonna get SUED!

[ripcord]

13. The warehouse makes a difference

The odor is concentrated and then blown out into the outside air. The simple solution would be to require an good quality air filtration system like other businesses use. They are legitimate businesses now and the downside of that is being regulated.

[Pathwalker]

15. Oh, Horse shit!

Someone had to say it.

[Sunlei]

16. horses probably hang around closest to warehouse, breathing deep the oxygen rich air &

want a few nips of that lush forage. Horses love MJ, not to much! they get very sleepy & quiet.

[dembotoz]

20. hard to know without more information

just because a neighbor is involved with pot production does not automatically make him a good guy.

[Zo Zig]

23. Good deal, for citzens?

Can I sue a oil refinery due to it emissions? No, oh just a pot farm, got it.