Woman says Lowe's failed to properly repair roof

CHARLESTON - A woman is suing Lowe's HIW Inc. for allegedly failing to properly repair her roof.

On April 30, 2010, Elizabeth Matty entered into a contract with Lowe's to install a new roof on her residence in Hurricane, according to a complaint filed Sept. 17 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Matty claims Twin Rivers, a subcontractor of Lowe's, completed the work on the roof, but, shortly thereafter, she noticed a bad leak in the roof of the garage and she contacted a representative of Lowe's, which sent someone to inspect the roof.

The inspector took photographs and told Matty the leak was caused by Twin Rivers' failure to properly flash around the chimney, according to the suit.

Matty claims approximately one week later, another leak developed on the back porch and she contacted Lowe's again, who sent another subcontractor, A Plus Roofing, to inspect the roof.

The individual from A Plus Roofing told Matty that there was a nail that had gone through the flashing, causing it to rip, and she was told that the problems were caused by Twin Rivers using a nail gun to install the roof, leaving three-inch nails protruding through the roof board and into the attic space, causing her roof boards to look like "Swiss cheese," according to the suit.

Matty claims A Plus Roofing informed her that her entire roof needed replaced and Lowe's agreed to replace the entire roof and contracted with A Plus to do the work.

A Plus roofed the house, but did not replace the boards and left the shingles sticking up everywhere, which has caused Matty's home to sustain water damage, according to the suit.

Matty claims Lowe's failed to provide a substantive response or proposed resolution to the problems.

Matty is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Matthew C. Lindsay and Richard D. Lindsay of Tabor Lindsay & Associates.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Tod J. Kaufman.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 13-C-1760