Misty Haze and Court

The Land Court case testing whether Malden's City Council could legally strip the non-transfer condition from DMS Trinity, LLC's cannabis special permit and hand it to Beach House Cannabis, LLC is about to get its first real hearing in front of a judge. One of the three parties on the other side of the caption still hasn't shown up.

In a Joint Case Management Conference Statement filed September 1, plaintiffs Misty Mountain Shop LLC and Halona Mui told Land Court Judge Diane R. Rubin that DMS Trinity, LLC — the company whose special permit is the entire subject of the appeal — has neither retained counsel nor entered an appearance in the five weeks since it was added to the case as a defendant:

"DMS Trinity, LLC, the transferee of the cannabis special permit at issue in this appeal, has not yet retained counsel and has not entered an appearance. Plaintiffs are serving DMS Trinity, LLC with court filings by paper mail until counsel enters an appearance. The Plaintiffs respectfully suggest that the Court may wish to address DMS Trinity, LLC's status at the Case Management Conference, including whether to set a deadline for entry of counsel's appearance."

Buried further down in the same filing, in a section on third parties, the plaintiffs go a step further: they've reserved the right to ask the court for a default judgment against DMS Trinity if it doesn't appear by a court-ordered deadline. Both sides say they have "no position" yet on what the right remedy would be. That question, along with everything else in the case, is now headed to Judge Rubin's courtroom on September 8.¹

Four Lawyers, One Empty Chair

While DMS Trinity has stayed silent, the City of Malden has not. City of Malden Legal Department attorney Alicia A. McNeil entered her appearance as lead counsel on August 12. Three colleagues — Christopher Mooney, Zaheer A. Samee, and Prasanna V. Rajasekaran — followed as co-counsel on August 26, all four working out of the department's offices at 215 Pleasant Street. That's four attorneys of record for the City and the eleven sitting City Councillors named as co-defendants, against zero for the company whose permit transfer actually triggered the lawsuit.

The September 8 conference itself has already moved once. The court originally set it for September 15; after the City requested a continuance in mid-August, it was moved up to September 8 at 2 p.m..¹

A Familiar Judge, and a Detail the City's Own Filing Confirms

Judge Rubin is no stranger to Malden cannabis litigation. She's the same judge who ruled against the City in Benevolent Botanicals LLC's four-year fight over a competing special permit — a decision issued January 29, 2026 and clarified that May. The City's own description of this new case, laid out in the September 1 filing, leans directly on that history: it argues the June 23 Council vote "acted consistent with the provisions of the Massachusetts Zoning Act" and that Misty Mountain and Mui have "failed to state claims upon which relief can be granted."

The same filing also confirms, in the City's own words rather than just the plaintiffs' characterization, a detail at the center of Misty Mountain's complaint: that DMS Trinity's May 7 petition to swap itself out for Beach House Cannabis as the "name of petitioner" indicated DMS intended to remain involved in the marijuana business, and that the arrangement with Beach House was structured "for financial purposes." Whether that continuing financial interest is compatible with a permit condition written to prevent just that kind of transfer is the question Judge Rubin will now have to sort out — assuming DMS Trinity ever shows up to argue its side of it.

There's a small irony in the timing. The same day we noticed this filing, Benevolent Botanicals — another cannabis retailer to sue Malden over a land court fight, and the last to win — submitted its completed building permit packet to the city's building department, more than seven months after Judge Rubin ruled in its favor. If DMS Trinity's silence continues into the fall, Misty Mountain and Mui may be looking at a similarly long road before anyone opens up, or backs out, at 36 Charles Street.

For more background on how this case got here, see The Civic Broadside's earlier coverage of the original filing, the case's assignment to the Land Court's Fast Track, and the City's motion to continue.²