The Missouri Supreme Court last week heard arguments challenging a March appeals court decision that directed the state to award a cannabis company 13 facility licenses after determining the state’s 2019 application process was inconsistent, the Missouri Independent reports. Five years ago, the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission denied the appeal over the licenses by Hippos LLC after the company argued identical applications had received different scores from the same grader.
Hippos is challenging whether the commission acted properly when it rescored the company’s application or whether the approach was “completely flawed,” as ruled by the appeals court, because the grader left no notes elaborating on its scoring.
The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) argued before the Supreme Court that it acted correctly and thoroughly investigated the application scores. The agency also urged the court to focus on the commission’s decision and not to rehash the state’s cannabis application grading process.
An audit by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, which took nearly three years, alleged “perceived and actual deficiencies” in the application scoring process, according to a report from the Independent. The Division of Cannabis Regulation called the audit “baseless” and “flawed.”
The Missouri Court of Appeals found that