Lawyer Loses Malpractice Insurance Because She Represents Medical Pot Clients
Image from Shutterstock.
A Denver lawyer says her malpractice insurer won’t renew her coverage because it considers her medical marijuana clients to be high risk.
The Hanover Insurance Group notified Ann Toney last month that her practice does not meet underwriting guidelines, the Denver Post reports. Seventy percent of her practice involves DUI defense, while 30 percent involves other criminal defense work and representation of medical marijuana businesses.
Toney says she is careful to advise medical marijuana businesses that federal law still bans pot sales, and she makes sure they comply with state law.
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, told the Post this is the first case he’s heard of a lawyer losing coverage because of medical marijuana work. He says 625 lawyers across the nation are NORML members.
