Franklin County, WA – Today, the plaintiffs in the Roll-Your-Own tobacco lawsuit against the State of Washington announced that Judge Bruce A. Spanner of Franklin County has granted their request for a preliminary injunction to delay the scheduled July 1 implementation date of HB 2565, in wake of their recent lawsuit. This will prevent enforcement of the proposed new taxes during the legal challenges.\
“We are very pleased that Judge Spanner has granted our request for an injunction while our legal challenges are heard in court,” said Phil Accordino, CEO of RYO Machine. We look forward to making our case that HB 2565 is an invalid piece of legislation because it violates Initiative 1053, which would have required a 2/3 vote from both houses of the state legislature in order to raise taxes on our small, independent tobacco stores across the state. - Phil Accordino, CEO of RYO Machine
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Chris Weiss, lead attorney for RYO from Stoel Rives, said, “It is gratifying to see that the Washington courts have stepped in to protect the constitutional rights of small business owners and customers.” He added, “While this case is very important to the RYO tobacco industry, it has a far reaching effect on all Washingtonians. Judge Spanner made a hard decision, and I believe the right decision.”
Filed in Franklin County, the plaintiffs are Dana Henne, a consumer and Franklin County resident; 1/2 Price Smokes, Inc., an independent tobacco retailer in Benton County; and RYO Machine, LLC.
There are currently 65 small, independent RYO tobacco stores that employ approximately 250 individuals across the State of Washington. The RYO Coalition of Washington supports the efforts of the plaintiffs in this case to promote small businesses and their employees throughout the state.
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