CORDLIFE received a letter of demand from one of its clients alleging the cord-blood bank has breached its service agreement, as well as a breach of the duty of care in negligence.

On Thursday (May 2), Cordlife noted that this was the first letter of demand received by the company from legal representatives of an affected client.

It also announced a notice of claim received in February this year, which was lodged against the company in the Small Claims Tribunals alleging the damage of another client’s child’s cord-blood unit stored by Cordlife.

Proceedings for this claim are “presently still ongoing”.

While Cordlife did not state the amounts claimed by both clients, it said that the sum being claimed under the letter of demand is “one that falls within the jurisdiction of the District Courts”.

This indicates that the sum claimed by the letter of demand falls within the range of S$60,000 to S$250,000.

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The Small Claims Tribunals deals with claims not exceeding S$20,000 – or S$30,000 if there is a memorandum of consent signed by both the client and service provider, though Cordlife said that this was “not the case”.

The company said that it was unable to determine the exact financial impact of the letter of demand at this juncture, though it has been advised that there are “grounds to challenge the claim and allegations made”.

If the company is ultimately required to settle the claim in the letter of demand, along with the small claim, it would “likely result in a negative impact” on its financial position for the year ending Dec 31, 2024.

Shares of Cordlife : P8A 0% closed Tuesday unchanged at S$0.125.