Medical marijuana group denies role in lawsuit
A group that just received the state’s go-ahead to begin cultivating medical marijuana in Greene County says it is not party to a contract dispute over non-payment to the contractor who built the warehouse where the medical marijuana will be grown.
AGRiMED Industries, which last year won one of 12 state-issued permits to grow and process medical marijuana, is one of three named respondents in a lien judgment filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County last week. The filing came one day after the state approved AGRiMED to begin accepting seeds and clones for growing medical marijuana after passing a series of inspections by the Department of Health.
In the court filing, Accelerated Construction Services of Morgantown, W.Va., said it is owed $683,831.08 for work it did constructing the 80-by-200foot warehouse at a 41.7acre site on Thomas Road in Cumberland Township.
The other two parties named are Cumberland Property Leasing LLC of Stamford, Conn., and Greene Energy Resource Recovery LLC of Fairmount, W.Va., which owns the property.
AGRiMED says it is leasing the warehouse but does not own it.
“AGRiMED has not seen the contract referenced in the lien filing, and the parties to the contract have not shared any information regarding the obligations or payments,” AGRiMED executive Stephen Olsen said in an email. “We believe AGRiMED was named because we are using a portion of the property and building referenced in the lien filing.”
Accelerated Construction President Michael Allen appears to agree, writing in an email to the Post-Gazette that “Our contract is with Cumberland leasing, and we dealt with Darren Clay who signed documents as managing member.” The filing also states the Aug. 22, 2017, construction contract was with Cumberland.
Reached by phone this week, Mr. Clay declined to comment on the lien filing.
An attorney with the Downtown firm of Blumling & Gusky, which represents Accelerated Construction, also said that business does not comment on pending litigation.