QUEENS – New York City’s efforts to crack down on illegal cannabis shops may have hit a significant obstacle after a state judge ruled in favor of a Queens store and ordered it to reopen due to a legal error by the city.

The Bell Convenience Shop in Bayside, Queens, was shut down by the New York City Sheriff’s Office earlier this year for allegedly selling unlicensed cannabis products, but the store may soon reopen.

According to Lance Lazzaro, the attorney representing the store, the closure was based on a procedural error. The sheriff’s office had conducted an inspection in June and allegedly seized illegal cannabis products. After the raid, the store received a summons and a closure order, effectively shutting it down. However, the summons was served on an employee and not the store’s manager, officer or owner, which Lazzaro said was improper.

“Instead of doing it right and serving the manager, the officer or the owner of the company, they created a fictitious term called ‘authorized person,'” Lazzaro said.

Since the subpoena was rejected for procedural reasons, the judge stated in his ruling that the case should be closed.

However, the negotiator recommended closing the store because she believed illegal activities were taking place there.

“So the judge said that if there is improper service, not only must the subpoena be dismissed, but if there is not an immediate threat, everything must be dismissed,” Lazzaro said.

The ruling could have far-reaching implications for New York City’s broader campaign to shut down unlicensed cannabis shops.

Since May, the city has closed about 900 businesses that were operating without proper licenses, but this decision could open the door for many of those businesses to challenge their closures on similar grounds.

The city has appealed the judge’s ruling.