“Considering the extraordinary (and extremely prejudicial) circumstances facing criminal defendants in Oregon in direct violation of Gideon, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion,” the majority opinion said. Gideon v. Wainwright is the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found U.S. states must provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own.

A U.S. District Court judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by two former Medford business owners whose business license was revoked after a 2022 drug raid.

Judge Ann Aiken also ruled that Jonathan Quintero and Austen Letrick cannot amend their lawsuit against the city of Medford, Jackson County and two law enforcement officers or refile the litigation in the same court. 

Eric Mitton, attorney for the city, said in an email he was pleased with the ruling and has no further comment. 

Jackson County attorney Joel Benton and Kevin Jacoby, counsel for Quintero and Letrick, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Aiken’s ruling adopted the findings and recommendations of U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke after he submitted them to her for review. 

Quintero and Letrick sued in September 2023 for $8.5 million — an amount the business, known as ProPack & Ship, lost for closing its doors — plus another half a million for other costs associated with the closure.

The pair — who were never criminally charged — argued in their complaint following the May 2022 raid by the Illegal Marijuana Enforcement Team that authorities engaged in “judicial deception” to procure the search warrant. The pair also said the city violated their due process rights when they received the summary suspension of their business license. 

Mitton and Benton argued the lawsuit should be dismissed, and oral arguments were held.

Clarke ruled law enforcement did not act with “reckless disregard for the truth,” as Quintero and Letrick claimed, when they applied for the search warrant.

“The (c)omplaint merely recites those words and neglects to provide any supporting factual allegations,” Clarke wrote. 

Clarke also said the claim that the city violated their due process rights was “not a well-pled allegation.” Medford, he said, is “constitutionally permitted to seize a property interest, without a prior hearing, where a threat of imminent threat to life or property is found.” Clarke noted ProPack & Ship’s close proximity to a daycare and school.

The lawsuit did not include Matthew Sachen, a ProPack & Ship co-operator who was the subject of the undercover work IMET conducted against the business in 2022. Sachen pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in U.S. District Court in Medford last week, and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for September.