In an unexpected but laudable move, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California announced last week that it was dropping pending  forfeiture lawsuits against several landlords of medical marijuana dispensaries.

For months, the Obama Administration, and U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. in particular, had pursued the property of numerous landlords in southern California. Software engineer Tony Jalali of Anaheim was one of these landlords, whose $1.5 million retirement property had been home to a local medical marijuana dispensary, making it easy prey for a hostile Justice Department.

Indeed, since October 2011, when all four U.S. Attorneys in California announced a crackdown on dispensaries across the state, they’ve brought lawsuits against no less than 30 landlords. Some of the cases have settled, but Jalali’s case and others remained a sore contradiction to a changing federal policy, illustrated by the August memoranda issued by Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole.

Last week, U.S. Attorney Birotte not only dismissed the Jalali lawsuit with prejudice (preventing the government from going after his property again), but according to the OC Weekly he also dismissed cases against three other landlords:

(c) News – Read entire story here.