Citing allegations made in a lawsuit by a former Hoboken director, a medical cannabis business is suing the city over a quashed license, despite getting initial cannabis review board (CRB) approval in January 2022.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The five-count lawsuit, filed by Nature’s Touch Med NJ, LLC in Hudson County Superior Court yesterday, names Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, and his wife, Jaclyn Fulop (for some reason identified by her maiden name) as defendants.
The business had taken out a $102,000 annual lease “with three percent annual increases with a four month security deposit and two year guarantee,” according to the court filing, but insists that Bhalla never signed their letter of approval for political reasons.
“On or about January 10, 2022, City of Hoboken Mayor Ravinder Singh Bhalla (hereinafter also ‘Mayor Bhalla’) refused to sign the letter of approval for Nature’s Touch marijuana dispensary license,” the lawsuit asserts before repeating a claim made by Pellegrini when he filed a quid pro quo, defamation, and retaliation lawsuit in May, as HCV first reported.
Pellegrini, the former health and human services director who also sat on the CRB board, said through counsel that at a January 14th lunch meeting with Bhalla, his Chief of Staff Vijay Chaudhuri, then-Assistant Business Administrator Jason Freeman, and then-Assistant Corporation Counsel Jason Freeman where Fulop called Bhalla angry about the Nature’s Touch license.
“The statement … is part of a certification made by Pantaleo Pellegrini who has filed suit against the City of Hoboken, has whistle blower status and will be called to affirm the certified statement during discovery and at the time of trial.”
Pellegrini, Freeman, and 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo all gave preliminary support to Nature’s Touch at the January 7th, 2022 CRB meeting (the board is only three members).
The new lawsuit also repeats some erroneous claims Pellegrini made in his separate court filing, such as that Jaclyn Fulop co-owns Story Dispensary (she co-owns the building) and sought a medicinal license (they actually sought and received a recreational license).
They also repeated allegations that Bhalla pushed the CRB board to approve the Story application in exchange for giving legal work to the Mile Square City’s law firm.
While the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) did award a contract to Bhalla’s firm a short time later, both his and Fulop’s administrations have vigorously denied that Fulop asked for a political favor and/or that anything improper occurred.
Nature’s Touch, which is owned by Maria Sausa, Amy Sausa, and Jennifer Doherty, also contend, through their Paramus-based attorney Vince Sicari, claimed that CRB Counsel Ron Mondello said he would get an explanation for why their application was quashed but they never received one.
As a result, the trio is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, interest, costs of litigation, attorneys fees and costs, as well as any relief the court deems just and equitable.
Hoboken spokeswoman Marilyn Baer did not return inquiries seeking comment on Wednesday, but she had colored Pellegrini as a disgruntled former employee under investigation by the FBI.
“The complaint is clearly written by a disgruntled former employee who resigned after being notified he was going to be terminated based upon an investigation which found reasonable cause to believe the director engaged in unlawful and corrupt conduct in the course of his city employment,” she said back in May after his lawsuit was filed.
“In fact, this matter was referred to and is being investigated by the FBI and we anticipate that law enforcement will be taking the appropriate action in the near future.”
NJ Spotlight News reported on May 17th that Giovanni De Pierro, Pellegrini’s attorney, said that he hadn’t been contacted by any members of law enforcement.
De Pierro also indicated that he had he been in contact with the four council members, all political opponents of Bhalla, calling for state and federal investigations into the claims.