Man Sues Wal-Mart Over Medical Marijuana Issue
Matthew MakowskiFOX 17 Producer
1:53 p.m. EDT, April 17, 2012
BATTLE CREEK, Mich—
A federal appeals court will hear arguments tomorrow, April 18, in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit on behalf of Joseph Casias. The Battle Creek man is acancer patient who was fired from his job at Wal-Martfor using medical marijuana.
Casias says he was wrongfully fired from the Battle Creek store after using the drug in accordance with state law to treat the painful symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer. The ACLU and the ACLU of Michigan filed the lawsuit in 2010 against Wal-Mart after Casias was fired for testing positive for the drug, despite following the law's guidelines and not using it while on the clock. Casias also says he never worked while under the influence of marijuana.
The ACLU will ask the court to reinstate the lawsuit, which was dismissed by a federal district judge last year, and return it to the state trial court where it was originally filed. The argument will focus around the idea that in dismissing the case, the lower court ignored Michigan's medical marijuana law prohibiting companies, like Wal-Mart, from firing patients who use the drug in accordance with said state law. The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, passed by voters in 2008, protects medical marijuana patients from "disciplinary action by a business."
The hearing is set to take place tomorrow morning at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio.
To see a copy of the lawsuit, click here.