Lindland Sued for Alleged Stolen Marijuana

[keithlewis]

Lindland Sued for Alleged Stolen Marijuana

http://wweek.com/portland/blog-26657-ju ... juana.html

Ultimate fighter and former Republican political candidate Matt "The Law" Lindland is being sued for allegedly stealing six mature marijuana plants.

In a suit filed March 3 in Multnomah County Circuit Court, plaintiff Gonzalo Aldana Gamboa claims Lindland offered last year to let Gamboa grow pot under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program on Lindland's property in Eagle Creek.

According to the lawsuit, Gamboa registered the grow site with the state of Oregon and harvested six mature plants last October. Lindland helped load the plants into a U-Haul truck and told Gamboa he was moving them to his shed to dry, the lawsuit says. But when Gamboa returned a month later, Lindland would not allow him to collect his harvest, the lawsuit says.

Lindland, who lost a 2008 run for state House District 52 as the GOP nominee, has not yet responded to email and phone messages seeking comment.

The suit, filed by Portland lawyer William Macke, seeks $122,880 for the lost marijuana plants.

Gamboa's lawsuit is similar to a breach of contract claim filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court last December in which a grower is suing his business partner for $127,000 to cover his share in a medical-marijuana grow.

Under Oregon law, medical-marijuana growers can charge patients to cover the expense of growing. But growers are forbidden under the law from turning a profit. Several lawyers we interviewed questioned whether the lawsuit filed in December will hold up in court.

Macke acknowledges his client was forbidden from profiting off the pot plants. Nonetheless, Macke says his client is suing for the estimated street value of the lost weed.

"There is an economic value," Macke says. "I think it could be argued that that's what it's worth."

On determing the weed's value, Macke adds: "It may be a little bit of a long shot legally."