(CNN) Attorney Ben Crump has filed a civil lawsuit against several entities including, The Walt Disney Co. and the Orange County Sheriff, on behalf of Hester Burkhalter, a 69-year-old White woman from Hickory, North Carolina, and her family.
Crump said she "was wrongfully arrested and taken into custody at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, for possessing federally legal CBD oil" in 2019.
CBD is a natural anti-inflammatory derived from the cannabis plant.
According to Crump and a July 29 complaint, a lawsuit has been filed in the Circuit Court of the 9th Judicial Circuit in Orange County against The Walt Disney Company and a number of its executives as well as the Orange County Sheriff and a number of its deputies alleging illegal detention, false arrest and violation of civil rights. The suit requests $6 million in compensatory damages and $12 million in punitive damages for Burkhalter, as well as millions of additional dollars for her family, according to the complaint.
"The Orange County Sheriff's Office has not been served with a lawsuit, but in any case, we don't comment on possible pending litigation," it said in an email to CNN on Wednesday.
Possibly_a_Firetruck on August 6th, 2020 at 23:32 UTC »
This is something that needs to be talked about. Their tests don’t even work.
Rance_Mulliniks on August 6th, 2020 at 20:27 UTC »
I literally went to a CBD trade show in Florida last November. 3 days of meetings with companies giving out lots of samples. I even met people running chains of health food stores and pharmacies in Florida that were already selling quite a bit.
pmackin on August 6th, 2020 at 19:41 UTC »
Full body search because an old lady with arthritis had CBD oil? Oh god. Being from Colorado this seems absolutely obscene. Bad way to handle the situation either way.
Edit: CBD oil had been federally legalized since December of 2018 when containing less than .3% THC.