A New York judge on Wednesday set a "rocket docket" briefing schedule in response to a lawsuit that alleges state cannabis regulators, without the strength of warrants, are illegally shuttering retailers of federally licensed hemp products, as part of the Empire State's dragnet on illicit cannabis operators.

Several of the parties' attorneys met behind closed doors for hours while engaged in settlement talks in acting state Supreme Court Justice Roger D. McDonough's chambers in the Albany trial court.