A medical marijuana processing company is suing the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission after members picked a license by random drawing last week, pulling a slip of paper from a bowl, after two companies tied for the final spot.

This comes after the state’s two previous attempts to award licenses were challenged in court and eventually scrapped.

This time, Enchanted Green and Jasper Development tied in rankings compiled by the commission for the fourth spot on Dec. 1, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court. Since the commission can only award four processor licenses, they decided to put the two names into a bowl to determine which company they would vote on first.

Since both met the criteria, by drawing which company would receive the first vote, the commission was “effectively deciding which applicant would receive the fourth processor license,” the lawsuit said. Commissioners voted to award the license to Jasper Development and did not vote on Enchanted Green.

The owners of Enchanted Green say the commission violated their right to due process by not having a better system in place to decide tie scores. They also broke open meetings law by conducting the drawing without allowing company representatives to examine the pieces of paper, the lawsuit alleges.

The company is seeking an emergency injunction to stop the licensing process.

If a federal court judge sides with Enchanted Green, it will be the third time the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission will have had to take back licenses. The commission’s troubled licensing process has been blocked after legal challenges twice already this year.

Enchanted Green scored second in a prior round of ranking, received a license in October and paid a $40,000 fee to the state, according to the lawsuit. After the state threw out that round of licenses, the commission moved forward with a ranking system that did not include the scores used in previous votes. The new ranking system placed Enchanted Green in a tie for fourth place.

“There was no evidence or indication that both applicants’ names were actually contained on pieces of paper in the bowl, that the pieces of paper were folded so the selecting commissioner could not see which one he was choosing, that the pieces of paper were the same size, weight, shape, character, and indistinguishable from one another other than the differing names on them, or that any other parameter(s) of a fair drawing were followed by the Commission and its commissioners,” the lawsuit said.

After the vote on Jasper Development, the lawsuit said, commissioners appeared confused on whether there should also be a vote for Enchanted Green. The lawsuit said the state does not have a process for companies denied licenses to seek reviews of those decisions.

A spokesperson for the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission did not respond to a request for comment.

The system for evaluating applications has changed several times. Companies have submitted thousands of pages of documents and have made presentations to the commission to try to get a foothold in the medical marijuana industry in Alabama. Some have invested many thousands of dollars in the process, the lawsuit said.

“The AMCC’s actions of repeatedly changing rules, criteria, and parameters for applicants, their submissions, and the awarding of processor licenses was and is unconstitutional and cannot be permitted,” the lawsuit said. “The AMCC’s decision to go forward with a plan to award licenses without providing the unsuccessful license applicants any legitimate or meaningful opportunity to challenge the denial of their applications and the decisions not to award them licenses is unconstitutional, and cannot be permitted.”