City resident sues contractor on east-side senior housing project
July 28, 2008
A far-east-side Athens resident has sued the company that built a senior-housing complex near his home on Della Drive.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Athens County Common Pleas Court, William S. Curtis claimed that the Woda Group of Westerville, Ohio, damaged his house through “negligent” excavation and construction work on the Beaumont Greene housing project.
When Curtis bought his house, the suit claimed, it had “no hairline or significant structural cracks in the walls and foundations.”
After Woda commenced excavation and construction around April 2007, however, the suit alleged, Curtis’s house and garage have “sustained losses to their structural soundness and integrity.”
The suit claimed that within a month of the start of the construction project, Curtis “began noticing significant structural cracks in his garage and foundation and buckling of all floors… To date, both the garage and house exhibit significant structural cracks located in the foundations, walls and floors, and such cracks have grown in length and width and concrete has begun falling out of some of these cracks.”
The suit noted that the Curtis garage is about 25 feet from the construction site, and allegedly “was leaning and detaching from the foundation as a proximate result of (Woda’s) negligent construction.”
Though Curtis’ attorney, Adam Baker of Athens, has made “numerous demands” to settle the matter, the suit claimed, Woda has not agreed to settle.
The suit alleged both negligence and trespass on the part of Woda, the latter claim based on an allegation that construction equipment entered Curtis’ property on numerous occasions.
Curtis has asked for $420,000 in damages, plus attorney fees and court costs.
Woda as of yet has no response on file in the case. The Athens NEWS put in a call to the company’s attorney late last week, but has received no answer.
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