Mountaineer Gas says contractors damaged buried lines

WHEELING -- A gas company is suing over claims buried utility lines were damaged by construction workers.

Mountaineer Gas Company filed a lawsuit May 19 in Ohio Circuit Court against Plum Contracting Inc., Gulisek Construction LLC and Lindy Paving Inc., citing negligence.

According to the complaint, Mountaineer Gas Company responded to a report of a gas odor in the area of Apple Pie Ridge in West Liberty on June 9, 2012. The lawsuit states the defendants had been doing construction work there the previous day and had requested Mountaineer to mark its buried utility lines to avoid damage, which the plaintiff did.

Mountaineer says it then discovered the defendants' employees had damaged a line, buried it, then paved over it without notifying the plaintiff.

The plaintiff says similar damage was done to buried Mountaineer Gas lines on Genteel Ridge Road in Wellsburg on Aug. 23, 2012. According to the lawsuit, Mountaineer suffered damages of more than $2,800 in the first incident and $600 in the second.

Mountaineer Gas Company is compensatory damages, repair costs and costs of the suit. It is being represented in the case by attorneys Harry F. Bell Jr. and Jonathan W. Price of The Bell Law Firm PLLC. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge David Sims.

Ohio Circuit Court Case No. 14-C-137