Leafwell said My Florida Green's AI-generated complaint was a central part of My Florida Green's plan to "take [Leafwell's] business down," a plot the competitor allegedly concocted after realizing Leafwell was having success in the medical cannabis industry. Both Leafwell and My Florida Green offer telehealth services that help patients access medical marijuana.
It was a "multi-pronged attack" that involved a media blitz, My Florida Legal's CEO causing a scene at a Leafwell event, threatening and making demands of Leafwell's third-party collaborators, and maligning Leafwell to its current or potential customers, Leafwell said in its complaint.
Leafwell said My Florida Green CEO Nicholas Garulay and in-house counsel Jason K. Castro "recklessly directed an AI platform to concoct a 'verified complaint' (which, notably, they verified under the penalty of perjury)."
"Despite the many legal and factual deficiencies, inconsistencies, problems, and other issues with that AI-generated complaint, MFG weaponized it — using the lawsuit as a mechanism of unlawfully extorting Leafwell to serve its own ends," Leafwell said.
Garulay and Castro aren't listed as defendants in the case.
Leafwell added that My Florida Green did see "some initial success."
"As a direct result of MFG's actions, Leafwell's professional relationships were severed, current and/or prospective customers were lost, and it incurred substantial financial damage," Leafwell said. "And throughout all of this — by way of repeated communications from MFG's 'in-house corporate counsel' — MFG endeavored to extort confidential information from Leafwell, and to convince Leafwell to shut down its business so that the campaign and its recently-filed lawsuit would end," it said.
However, Leafwell later discovered that My Florida Green's suit had a number of flaws, it said. For one, its principal multiple statutes for liability don't have a private right of action, Leafwell said. One statute was even part of the criminal code, it said.
"But even more egregious was MFG's reckless, rampant, and unabashed use of AI," Leafwell said. "One of MFG's filings contained a dozen hallucinated, fabricated, and/or completely unsupportive legal citations."
Castro, My Florida Green's in-house counsel, was eventually sanctioned by a federal judge, Leafwell noted. And it wasn't the first time Castro has been sanctioned for fabricating legal claims, Leafwell alleged. When he was sanctioned for similar conduct in the past, he avoided paying via bankruptcy, Leafwell said.
And in the midst of the most recent sanctions proceedings, My Florida Green dropped the suit so it could insulate itself from accountability, Leafwell said. Now My Florida Green is threatening to file a new suit in state court, it said.
"The issues in this case are simple," Leafwell said. "MFG and its in-house counsel concocted a scheme to extort Leafwell and ruin its business — in part through the use of fabricated case law."
Leafwell said it is "almost certain" that Castro will "evade accountability once again — leaving Leafwell with nothing."
"In this circumstance, MFG must be held vicariously liable and answer for its employee's conduct," Leafwell said. "Moreover, MFG cannot be allowed to continue its campaign in state court without assuring that its employee fulfills his court-imposed sanctions."
Leafwell is seeking unspecified damages as well as an order forcing My Florida Legal to cover Leafwell's legal fees from the other suit.
My Florida Green said in a statement it has "uncovered information that raises serious concerns about how Leafwell operates in Florida and potentially in other states."
"Several states with strict patient-protection and anti-kickback statutes — including Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Texas — have legal frameworks that do not permit the kind of dispensary-subsidized 'free certification' arrangements we are seeing advertised," the company said.
My Florida Green said its goal is "simply to understand who is funding these programs and whether patients are being steered without their knowledge." It said that as its investigation continues, it will "pursue whatever claims are appropriate against whichever parties are involved."
Counsel for Leafwell didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Friday.
Leafwell is represented by Jody Stafford Fernandez, Paul B. Lewis and Kevin M. Bergin of DLA Piper.
Counsel information for My Florida Green wasn't available Friday.
The case is Leafwell Inc. v. The Doc App Inc., case number 2:25-cv-01132, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
--Editing by Lakshna Mehta.
Update: This article has been updated with comment from My Florida Green.
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