Degollado v. City of Port Lavaca

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided August 18, 2026·No. 25-40206·Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals ____________ Fifth Circuit

FILED

No. 25-40206 August 18, 2026

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

Alexandra Degollado; Faded Smoke Shop, L.L.C.; Daniel Herrera, Jr.,

Plaintiffs—Appellants,

versus

City of Port Lavaca, Texas; Collin Rangnow, in his official capacity as Chief of Police for Port Lavaca, Texas; Kyle Curtis, in his official and individual capacities; Karen Neal, in her official and individual capacities; Adam Beard, in his official and individual capacities; Javier Ramos, in his official and individual capacities; Maxwell Duke, in his official and individual capacities; Maria Moreno, in her official and individual capacities; Devon Moore, in his official and individual capacities; Eric Salles, in his official and individual capacities; Justin Klare, in his official and individual capacities,

Defendants—Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 6:23-CV-14

Before Richman, Duncan, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.

No. 25-40206

Per Curiam: * Appellants Alexandra Degollado, Daniel Herrera Jr., and Faded Smoke Shop, LLC, appeal from the district court’s dismissal of their claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against officers of the city of Port Lavaca and the city itself. We affirm.

I

We take the facts alleged in the complaint as true in considering this motion to dismiss. 1 In 2019, the federal government descheduled hemp, defined as parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L. with a concentration of delta-9 THC of 0.3% or less. Texas then removed hemp, using the same definition as the federal government, from its definition of “controlled substances” in Chapter 481 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. The plaintiffs allege that Texas Health and Safety Code § 481.103 Penalty Group 2 thereafter only covered marijuana, or Cannabis sativa L. products with more than 0.3% delta-9 THC, and did not cover hemp or products with delta-8 THC.

A year later, Alexandra Degollado opened Faded Smoke Shop, LLC, in Port Lavaca, Texas, selling allegedly legal products including products with delta-8 THC and hemp with 0.3% or less delta-9 THC concentration. Police soon began investigating her shop and the employees who worked there. A Port Lavaca officer, Corporal Kyle Curtis, indicated that “[t]he police department ha[d] conducted several controlled buys from [Faded Smoke Shop] including Marijuana flower, THC concentrate AKA ‘DAB’, and THC Vape cartridges.” “Products bought as a result of the controlled buys were sent to DPS Crime Lab in Corpus Christi for analysis. On 2/8/21,

*

This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.

1 Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007).

No. 25-40206

[Curtis] received lab results from the DPS lab . . . [which] confirmed the edibles purchased from Faded Smoke Shop, LLC, to contain THC.” “Due to the positive test results [he] drafted an arrest warrant Degollado [sic] for Manufacture and Deliver Controlled Substance Penalty Group 2.”

On February 9, 2021, Corporal Curtis presented an affidavit to a magistrate judge that included the following:

I, Cpl Curtis, on 9/8/2020, entered a business located at 1504 W Austin identified as Faded Smoke Shop in an undercover capacity. Upon entry I was greeted by the owner of said business identified as Alexandra Degollado. . . . I purchased 0.12 ounces of a green leafy substance I suspected to be marijuana from Degollado. The marijuana was inside a glass jar with a faded logo. The marijuana was taken to the police department where it field tested positive for marijuana. The product was sent to the DPS Crime Lab for analysis.

However, the lab results do not indicate that the crime lab tested a “green leafy substance.” Additionally, “[n]o images of the positive test for marijuana that Curtis described in the Affidavit exist.” The plaintiffs allege that the product in the jar was clearly marked as containing delta-8 THC.

The lab results showed the only items tested were “2 yellow gummies,” which tested positive for THC. Curtis’s affidavit stated that “the edibles . . . contain[ed] THC a controlled substance listed in Penalty Group 2 TX Health and Safety Code.” However, the lab results did not indicate whether the THC was delta-8 or delta-9 THC, nor its concentration—in other words, the results did not indicate whether the products were marijuana, and thus listed in Penalty Group 2, or legal substances not listed in that group.

Based on this affidavit, the magistrate judge issued a warrant for the search and seizure of products from Faded Smoke Shop and the arrest of

No. 25-40206

Degollado and Daniel Herrera, Jr., an employee of Faded Smoke Shop. Port Lavaca officers executed the warrant on February 9, 2021. Officers seized several products from Faded Smoke Shop and sent them to the Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory for testing. Degollado was arrested, and Herrera’s parole was revoked due to his arrest.

Meanwhile, the legal landscape surrounding delta-8 THC in Texas began to shift. We take judicial notice of these facts. 2 In March of 2021, the Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services published an updated Schedule I list of controlled substances with amendments to the terms “tetrahydrocannabinols” and “marihuana extract.” 3 The Department also posted a statement online reading: “All other forms of THC, including Delta-8 in any concentration and Delta-9 exceeding 0.3%, are considered Schedule I controlled substances.” 4 On May 27, 2021, the Bexar County Crime Lab returned lab results on the products seized from Faded Smoke Shop. The lab analyzed the type of THC that was present in the products and found all the tested products contained delta-8 THC.

On October 22, 2021, the Commissioner and the Texas Department of State Health Services were sued by plaintiffs who alleged that “delta-8 THC that was derived from hemp was de-scheduled and no longer deemed a controlled substance and that the Department and the Commissioner had improperly amended the schedules of controlled substances to make delta-8

2 See Fed. R. Evid. 201.

3 Tex. Dep’t of State Health Servs. v. Sky Mktg. Corp., 711 S.W.3d 227, 236-37 (Tex.

App.—Austin 2023), aff’d in part and rev’d in part, 733 S.W.3d 689 (Tex. 2026); Brief of Appellants at 16-17, Sky Mktg. Corp., 711 S.W.3d 227 (No. 03-21-00571).

4 Sky Mktg. Corp., 711 S.W.3d at 237.

No. 25-40206

THC derived from hemp an illegal Schedule I controlled substance.” 5 On November 8, 2021, a Texas state trial court issued a temporary injunction against the Commissioner’s amendments to the March 2021 Schedule and the rule the Department had posted online. 6 The Commissioner and Department appealed, although the Texas Court of Appeals reinstated the injunction on November 18, 2021, and maintained that delta-8 THC had always been illegal under Texas law. 7 On April 13, 2022, Degollado and Herrera were indicted by a grand jury for “knowingly possess[ing], with intent to deliver, a controlled substance, namely tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta-8), in an amount of four grams or more but less than 400 grams.” The district attorney later moved to dismiss their cases because “Officers [were] unavailable to testify due to a credibility issue.” Degollado applied to have her seized items returned, but the police retained $14,000 worth of products on the grounds that the products were illegal.

Degollado, Herrera, and Faded Smoke Shop, represented by counsel, filed suit against Corporal Curtis, the Port Lavaca officers who conducted the search and seizure (Adam Beard, Maxwell Duke, Justin Klare, Devon Moore, Maria Moreno, Karen Neal, Javier Ramos, and Eric Salles), Port Lavaca chief

5 Id; Brief of Appellants at 16, Sky Mktg. Corp., 711 S.W.3d 227 (No. 03-21-00571).

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