A Washington D.C. medical cannabis dispensary operator has filed a lawsuit against its cultivation facility designer and installer, alleging breach of contract, fraud, and civil conspiracy after the contractor allegedly abandoned a turnkey buildout project in October 2025, leaving behind more than a million dollars in specialized equipment with no viable alternative use.
Green Grow LLC, which is scheduled to open its dispensary at 2417 Evarts Street NE in May 2026, filed the complaint on March 30, 2026, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against The Indoor Farmer LLC, a Colorado-based cannabis facility design and installation company, and its two principals, Richard Lamb and Mica Renquist. Green Grow is seeking damages of no less than $1,661,313.56, in addition to punitive damages, disgorgement, and attorneys' fees.
According to the complaint, Green Grow entered into a Statement of Work with The Indoor Farmer in November 2023, under which the company was contracted to design, procure, install, and deliver a complete turnkey cultivation facility built around TIF's proprietary growing system, the Farmation Station, described in the filing as a racking-based cultivation unit intended to replace multiple conventional grow rooms within a limited footprint. Green Grow alleges that over the course of the following two years it paid TIF a total of approximately $1,503,189, including a $455,000 retainer in February 2024, monthly consultancy fees of $10,000 from December 2023 through August 2024, and installment payments toward the Farmation Station units themselves.
The complaint alleges that TIF repeatedly failed to deliver on its contractual obligations throughout the project, including the design schematics, Standard Operating Procedures, and equipment cut sheets required by Green Grow's architect and general contractor to proceed with construction. Green Grow further alleges that in the summer of 2025, 125 Fohse lighting units purchased for the project and stored in a warehouse under TIF's management were allegedly sold to third parties by the warehouse owner, causing additional delays. TIF has not publicly responded to the allegations.
In October 2025, TIF allegedly informed Green Grow that it was abandoning the project, citing what it described as an erosion of trust between the parties and stating that its proprietary system could not be used without its direct oversight and management. Green Grow alleges that following TIF's withdrawal, the company was left with a 40-foot shipping container of specialized racking and equipment, manufactured in China specifically for the Farmation Stations, for which no bill of lading or manifest was ever provided despite repeated requests. A second container's contents, the complaint states, remain unverified.
Green Grow alleges it was also directed by TIF to purchase quantities of equipment and materials in excess of what the project actually required, a claim the complaint says was subsequently confirmed by the replacement designer brought in after TIF's departure. The growing medium purchased at TIF's direction, the filing states, was far in excess of project requirements even under the original Farmation Station design.
After TIF's withdrawal, Green Grow scrapped the Farmation Station system entirely and replaced it with a conventional vertical cultivation setup, incurring what the complaint describes as at least $152,154.98 in additional redesign and construction costs, plus ongoing regulatory consultancy fees from a replacement firm accruing at $15,000 per month.
The complaint also alleges that TIF unilaterally scrapped Green Grow's six-strain cannabis marketing program, known internally as the Founding Mothers program, in spring 2025, approximately 18 months after the plan had been developed and signed off on by both parties. Separately, Green Grow alleges that Renquist disclosed in May 2025 that the Farmation Station system could not accommodate cannabis phenotypes with grow periods longer than eight weeks, a limitation that had never previously been disclosed and that eliminated a number of sativa strains from Green Grow's planned product range.
Source: Lawsuit document
