Colorado Lawyer With Pot Clients Loses Liability Insurance

A Denver, Colo., lawyer has lost her liability insurance because part of her practice involves representing medical-marijuana businesses.

The Denver Post reports the Hanover Insurance Group told Ann Toney last month it wouldn’t renew her malpractice coverage. It sent a notice saying Toney’s practice doesn’t meet current underwriting guidelines because she has an area of practice involving medical marijuana, which it said was a risk factor.

Toney says she makes sure her clients comply with Colorado’s medical-marijuana laws but that she also advises that marijuana sales remain illegal federally.

Allen St. Pierre is the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He told The Denver Post he knows of no other lawyer to lose insurance because of work with medical-marijuana businesses.