Litigation and Administrative Attorney

• J.D., Willamette University College of Law (2006)
• B.A. (Anthropology), Portland State University (2003)

Publications

• Oregon Regulator Liquor Scandal Should Alarm Cannabis Consumers, Law360, 2023.

Presentations

• Operation Table Rock & Law Enforcement, Willamette University College of Law, November 10, 2022.
• Aspergillus Testing and the Landscape of Cannabis Regulation, Willamette University College of Law, October 19, 2023.

Verdicts/Settlements

• Successfully represented various cannabis industry stakeholders in a challenge against a testing rule that threatened the economic viability of the industry, and obtained an order staying enforcement of the rule pending judicial review. In response to the court's ruling staying enforcement, the agency repealed the rule. Cannabis Industry Association of Oregon, et. al v. Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, Court of Appeals Case No. A181948, 2022.
• Successfully represented claimants in civil forfeiture proceedings involving bank accounts containing approximately $60,000 and several parcels of real property, based on allegations that the claimant's tenants had used their hemp license as a cover for illegal cannabis production. The trial court concluded that the government's attempt to seize the bank accounts suffered from a fundamental legal flaw, ordered they be released to the claimants and awarded substantially all of the claimants' attorney fees. The government was then persuaded to abandon its claim for civil forfeiture of the real property and agreed to reimburse the claimants their remaining attorney fees incurred in their defense. Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team v. One 202 Southland Dump Trailer, VIN: 2SFKL3360L1048127, et al., Jefferson County Case No. 22CV23587, 2023.
• Successfully represented industry stakeholders in a challenge to an OLCC ban on flavored vape products in response to public health concerns. Herban Industries OR, LLC v. Oregon Liquor Control Commission, Court of Appeals Case No. A172546, 2019.
• Represented an applicant for a recreational cannabis retailer license proposed to be denied by OLCC, resulting in the first contested case under Oregon's recreational cannabis licensing system in which the client prevailed before the ALJ. OLCC entered a final order disagreeing with the ALJ's reasoning, requiring an appeal to the Court of Appeals. Upon submission of the opening brief, OLCC reconsidered its final order and entered a revised final order granting the applicant's application and establishing important OLCC case precedent prohibiting staff from denying a license application based on rules promulgated after the application was submitted. Jin’s, Inc. v. Oregon Liquor Control Commission, Court of Appeals Case No. A168352, 2019.
• Iverson’s Unlimited, Inc. v. Winco Foods, LLC, 288 Or App 10, 404 P3d 981 (2017): Represented the plaintiff in the trial court and on appeal involving a claim that the defendant misappropriated the plaintiff’s trade secrets in soliciting bids from the plaintiff’s competitors for work with the defendant. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendant, and the plaintiff appealed. Kevin wrote the briefs and argued the case on appeal, arguing that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment. In a reported case, the Court of Appeals agreed, reversing the judgment and remanding the case to the trial court for trial on the merits.
• Southcentral Association of Neighbors v. City of Salem, 272 Or App 292, 355 P3d 208 (2015): Part of a legal team in this land use case that represented a neighborhood association that opposed various aspects of Salem Hospital’s planned development of the former Oregon School for the Blind site. The City of Salem Hearings Officer rejected the neighborhood association’s arguments, and Kevin appealed the Hearings Officer’s decision to the Land Use Board of Appeals, which sustained the neighborhood association’s arguments and overruled the Hearings Officer’s decision. Salem Hospital then appealed LUBA’s decision to the Oregon Court of Appeals. Kevin successfully defended LUBA’s decision, which required Salem Hospital to amend its development plan.
• Kaib’s roving R.Ph. Agency, Inc. v. Smith, 237 Or App 96, 239 P3d 247 (2010): Assisted in the briefing on this case, which involved a claim of violations of Oregon’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act. Before the trial court, the defendant filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that all of the claimed information taken by the defendant, a former contractor of the plaintiff, to start a competing business were not trade secrets. The trial court agreed with the defendant. On appeal, Kevin argued that the determination of whether given information was or was not a trade secret was a question of fact, and that there were genuine issues of material fact for trial. The Court of Appeals agreed, holding in a case of first impression that under Oregon’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act, whether given information qualifies as a trade secret is normally a question of fact, and that the trial court’s grant of summary judgment was erroneous.

• Gov. Brown Pardons Past Simple Marijuana Possession Offenses for Over 45,000 Oregonians, KATU News, November 21, 2022.
• Oregon Company Asks Court to Strike Down State Ban on Cannabis Exports. Portland Business Journal, November 22, 2022.
• The State Agency That Oversees Cannabis Had the Tools to Regulate La Mota, but Records Show It Rarely Did, Willamette Week, May 31, 2023.
• An Appeals Court Ruling Says Voters Outlawed Civil Forfeiture, Willamette Week, June 21, 2023.
• Cannabis Producers Ask Courts to Stop new Oregon Testing Rule, Portland Business Journal, August 1, 2023.
• Oregon Court of Appeals Sides with Marijuana Growers Amid Aspergillus Lawsuit, KOIN 6 News, August 25, 2023.
• Oregon Cannabis Scores a Court Win over Aspergillus Testing, Portland Business Journal, August 20, 2023.
• Oregon Suspends Mandate to Test Cannabis for Pathogenic Mold, Oregon Public Broadcasting, September 15, 2023.