Marijuana lottery losers eye lawsuit but first need a lawyer

SEATTLE — The Washington State Liquor Control Board could face a class-action lawsuit over results of the lottery for retail marijuana licenses.

But first, the potential lead plaintiffs need to find an attorney to take the case.

Ryan Kunkel and Joel Berman, owners of a medical marijuana dispensary called Have a Heart, say several attorneys think they have a good case but turned them down because of conflicts of interest.

Turns out, many attorneys who specialize in cannabis cases already represent lottery winners.

"It's a tangled web of conflict," Kunkel said.

Kunkel said he's already heard from about 30 business owners potentially interested in joining a lawsuit.

Kunkel and Berman did win a retail license for Ocean Shores, but struck out in five other places, including Seattle.

They claim other applicants were allowed to game the system by having multiple people associated with the business apply for the same location.

There are several cases where businesses with different names got high lottery rankings for the same address.

Kunkel and Berman also say the state changed the rules during the process and didn't do enough applicant pre-screening.

Brian Smith, a spokesman for the Liquor Board, called the lottery system "pretty sound."

He said regulators made it clear landlords could make deals with multiple businesses and said he could not speculate on a lawsuit that hadn't been filed.

Since the lottery results were released, several lottery losers have bought out lottery winners.

An ad on Craigslist offers a retail license for $2.5 million.

State regulators have said businesses can be sold, but licenses cannot.

Winning the lottery does not guarantee a license.

State regulators say they plan to thoroughly check addresses and criminal backgrounds of applicants before issuing licenses.

KIRO