Lawsuit brought against Cookies dismissed by litigant
One of the suits brought against prominent cannabis brand, Cookies, has been abandoned.
In January of this year, Paul Rock, the CEO of Cookies Retail Products (CRP), sued Cookies executives, claiming that they attempted to undermine a multi-million dollar deal that would allow CRP to sell delta-8 THC and CBD products under the Cookies brand.
In the suit, Rock alleged that Cookies executives took kickbacks from third-party vendors and interfered with purchase orders, resulting in delays and millions of dollars in unsold cannabis products. The suit sought $38 million in damages.
On Friday, Rock and CRP issued a statement that the suits had been voluntarily dismissed.
“CRP has voluntarily dismissed all suits and claims, and expresses a sincere regret for any misunderstandings CRP’s allegations may have caused. CRP has sought to seal and dismiss any such allegations in order to preserve the integrity of the COOKIES brand and partnership.
After additional information was discovered and provided to CRP and its principals, CRP realized the suit was filed prematurely and quickly came to find that the allegations were incorrect given additional information and context that was unavailable to CRP at the time the suit was filed.
CRP is unaware of any unethical behavior by Berner, Berling, or Cookies’ Management. In fact, as a matter of record, CRP has never implicated or named Berner in any action nor made any claim that he has ever conducted himself in any manner other than professional, kind, and a leader in the space.”
Rock stated, “I have the utmost confidence in Parker, Berner, and the Cookies leadership team and their partners. Certain third parties influenced us to file suit based upon allegations that we learned were not true, so we took immediate steps to rectify the mistake by dismissing the suit. CRP and I express our confidence in the ethics and integrity of Parker, Berner, and Cookies. CRP has successfully collaborated with Cookies in the past to build amazing connections with consumers and retailers to the brand. We continue to do business with Cookies, in fact, and express our sincere desire to move forward productively together. Lastly, it is a shame that our dismissed suit was used in such a manner and find the timing is suspect given recent positive growth for the brand and our company. We at CRP consider this mischaracterization of our own closed legal action to be shameful and opportunistic. We wish Parker, Berner, and Cookies nothing but the best in the future.”
Rock further commented regarding the industry and the products as a whole “It is evident that CBD related products are here to stay and will quickly eclipse Energy and Functional beverages as the most successful new category in Retail History. Our approved programs, such as COOKIES licensed branding initiative fills voids in product format and consumer demand that currently exist and will provide CRP and our retail associations the opportunity to take full advantage of the retail scope offered by our retailer groups who are the front lines of the impending CBD product explosion.” and that the original suit was only filed due to the urging of a third party who provided false allegations.
As of press time, the lawsuit against Cookies is pending a June 22 dismissal hearing.
A second lawsuit, filed by two current investors in Cookies against Berner, Berling, and other executives, is still ongoing.
