‘Nothing to this claim’: Reedley officials answer to Universal Meditech Inc. claim
REEDLEY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The company behind the illegal medical lab in Reedley has filed a claim against both the City of Reedley and the Fresno County government.
The company, known as Universal Meditech Inc, says they are asking for a combined total of $80 million. They say both the city and county unlawfully destroyed their property and caused their company economic harm.
“There is nothing to this claim, and in fact, if this is an intimidation tactic by UMI it will not work. The City of Reedley will not be intimidated,” Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba said.
Zieba says they had not heard from the owners of the illegal medical lab for months before receiving this claim. The lab was discovered by a city employee months ago and an investigation found that the warehouse contained dangerous chemicals, viruses, medical tests, and lab mice. The city and county found that the lab was being operated illegally and without permits from the city.
Illegal Reedley Lab: YourCentralValley.com’s complete coverage
Zibea says they just sent Universal Meditech Inc. an invoice to cover the cost of clearing out and disposing of the hazardous viruses, lab mice, and other medical tests found in the lab.
“Coincidentally we sent that out last Friday to them and that’s a claim for $310,000. It cost us that much to date to abate their illegal lab,” she said.
The claim came shortly after.
Zieba says the claim they received was for $30 million. Fresno County’s public information officer says they received one for $50 million. Both the city and the county say the claims should be dismissed and that they both followed legal court orders when it came to disposing of what was found on the property.
The claim documents break down specific costs. The company says they are asking for $10 million for a specific type of genetically engineered bacteria, as well as another $10 million for genetically engineered virus strains. The claim even went as far as to detail the cost per individual genetically modified lab mice that they did experiments with. Part of the claim said some of the mice they had cost them $50 each plus shipping, and that they are totaling that amount to over $7,000 for just some of their lab mice.
Still, Zieba says it doesn’t matter.
“It all seems inflated to me, although frankly because the claim is fully without merit, the number in it of itself is not concerning to me. This is a meritless claim that the city will deny,” she said.
Zieba said a claim like this one is usually a precursor to a lawsuit, and this claim itself is not one. On Nov. 14, if the claim isn’t withdrawn by UMI by then, Zieba says city staff will ask the council to formally dismiss the claim.
“The claim is fully without merit, the city of Reedley is not going to be intimidated, will not be paying out any money to this company, we will fight anything that comes forward. This community went through trauma with this illegal lab, and we don’t want it to experience any more trauma so we will fight this.”
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