The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's ruling requiring a Phoenix law firm to pay nearly $150,000 in legal fees over what the lower court concluded was unfounded litigation.

According to news reports, Statecraft LLC filed a lawsuit against the town of Snowflake and Copperstate Farms, a limited liability company that had received a special use permit from the municipality to grow marijuana in an existing greenhouse. Several residents, represented by Statecraft, filed suit, alleging, among other things, "illegal contract zoning."

Lower court Judge Donna Grimsley dismissed the case and ordered Statecraft to pay the legal fees — roughly $40,000 to the town and $109,000 to Cooperstate. The appellate court upheld the decision, finding there was more than enough evidence the lawsuit should never have been filed.

"There is no public interest in a frivolous lawsuit, and discouraging groundless litigation is what the legislature intended," the appellate court concluded. Without comment, the Arizona Supreme Court declined to review the ruling.

Kory Langhofer, a Statecraft attorney, maintains the trial judge "simply got it wrong," warning of the implications of the Supreme Court's decision to leave the lower ruling intact, saying it "will inevitably chill thoughtful cases of first impression in Arizona courts."

—Source: tucson.com