Residents of Rock Hill, Missouri Sue Cannabis Facility Over Odor
Residents of Rock Hill, Missouri are suing a cannabis company over what they claim is a “skunky” smell that emanates from the business’s processing facility. The lawsuit contends that “noxious odors” released from New Growth Horizon’s Proper Brands facility invades the plaintiffs’ properties “causing property damage through private nuisance, public nuisance, and negligence.”
The facility includes both cultivation of cannabis plants and extraction for resin, live rosin, and distillates used in edible and vape products.
The lawsuit contends that the owners of the Proper Brands facility have “failed to develop, implement, operate, and/or maintain adequate odor mitigating strategies, processes, technologies, and equipment to control its odorous emissions from the Facility and prevent those odors and emissions from invading the homes and properties.”
According to the plaintiffs, the facility “has been the subject of frequent complaints from residents” neighboring the facility and that in April 2025, city officials released a statement saying that they were “aware of the issues with the odor coming from the marijuana production facility,” take the “issue seriously,” and were “working with the compliance officer for the facility and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to facilitate more effective odor mitigation solutions.”
In conjunction with the statement, the city created a designated email contact for complaints related to the odor and has received more than 300 complaints, the lawsuit states.
On February 4, 2026, Proper Brands received a formal Notice of Violation from the City of Rock Hill for city codes that mandate performance standards for cannabis-related operations, specifically requiring that no odor be detectable at or beyond the facility’s property line, according to the lawsuit. In the lawsuit, the City said it “has documented a persistent and recurring pattern of marijuana-related odors originating from [Defendant’s] operations throughout the entire duration of the facility’s existence.”
“Despite the facility’s tenure in the City, the high volume of verified resident complaint confirms a chronic failure to meet these legal performance standards,” the City stated in the notice. “This ongoing inability to contain emissions constitutes a public nuisance that negatively impacts the quality of life and the right to the quiet enjoyment of property for Rock Hill residents.”
The lawsuit seeks class action status, claiming an excess of 1,500 residential households are impacted by the facility’s odor and that property values have been negatively affected.
The lawsuit seeks punitive damages, attorney fees, and an injunction.