Veteran actress and talk show host, Whoopi Goldberg is in a legal battle with ex-mayor Joey Torres over their stalled efforts to open a recreational marijuana store in Paterson, NorthJersey.com reports.
The EGOT winner currently has two cannabis brands under her WhoopFam cannabis brand. The plan was for the WhoopFam corporation to operate the marijuana business from a building on 1st Avenue in Paterson, which it had leased in September of 2023 from Torres’ House of HOPE organization.
As the outlet noted, Torres, a convicted former mayor of Paterson, formed House of HOPE several years ago after completing his 13-month prison sentence in 2019. The aim of House of HOPE was supposed to provide re-entry services for people released from incarceration. House of HOPE was looking to connect ex-offenders with jobs at the WhoopFam cannabis store.
While WhoopFam received its retail license from the state cannabis commission, the company did not obtain city government approval for the business. So while the store never officially opened, WhoopFam proceeded in making monthly lease payments of $5,665 to House of Hope for a year, according to court records.
However the cannabis company reportedly ceased payments to House of HOPE in September of 2024.
Lawsuit
Torres’ team filed a landlord-tenant court complaint, in May, alleging that WhoopFam owed $52,514 in unpaid rent for nine months. Two months later, WhoopFam countersued asserting that Torres’ organization owed their clients $167,681 in expenses incurred from their attempts to launch the cannabis business, including a $60,000 application fee paid to the city of Paterson.
In the countersuit, WhoopFam asserted that Torres was certain “that the subject property was already approved by the Paterson mayor and City Council for such use” as a marijuana retailer.
The claim also mentioned that Goldberg invited Torres to her home for dinner upon the initial negotiations. Torres also gave the WhoopFam representatives a “walk-through” of the proposed business location, the claim said.