An organization employed by Missouri to attain candidates for the state’s medical hashish has misplaced a $28 million lawsuit introduced by one of many corporations denied an business license final yr, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch experiences. Smart Well being Options was sued by GMT Consulting in 2020 claiming Smart’s scoring technique was flawed and “corrupt,” which resulted within the license denial.
An arbitrator discovered that Smart “negligently carried out its consulting duties” for the state Division of Well being and Senior Companies (DHSS), which prompted GMT “to be wrongfully denied dispensary licenses.” GMT is in court docket in search of to drive Smart’s insurance coverage firm, Hiscox Insurance coverage Co., to pay the $28 million judgment.
DHSS spokeswoman Lisa Cox on Tuesday advised the Publish-Dispatch that the ruling isn’t an indictment of the state’s medical hashish business software scoring system and “the difficulty seems to be a phrases dispute with an insurance coverage firm and a non-execution settlement, not a choice by a court docket on the deserves of scoring.”
The Missouri Medical Hashish Commerce Affiliation additionally downplayed the result, saying the litigation is “between two non-public events” and “doesn’t embrace the state.” The group additionally mentioned the choice “may have zero impression on Missouri’s greater than 150,000 medical hashish sufferers, our business, or Missouri’s program.”
Smart Well being had been paid $2.1 million from the state for its position in scoring business purposes however the state has paid greater than $6.7 million in authorized charges related to the fallout of the corporate’s work, the report says. The state has had to make use of funds from the newly-created veteran’s fund – which is supported by medical hashish taxes and costs – to cowl a number of the authorized bills.
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