CHARLESTON – Two Kanawha County property owners are suing a general contracting firm, Ford Associates, claiming the firm not only placed an invalid lien on their property, but also hired a contractor who performed shoddy work.
Amy Haynie and Walter Hatfield filed a lawsuit Feb. 1 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Ford Associates Inc., Robert S. Ford (individually) and IBS Ltd., alleging breach of contract, negligence and fraudulent/tortuous conduct.
According to the complaint, Robert Ford and Ford Associates filed a mechanic’s lien Dec. 28, 2015, against property the plaintiffs own, falsely asserting they had a claim against it. However, the plaintiffs claim they have paid all amounts owed to Ford Associates as general contractor for work done on their property. In addition, the suit says the subcontractor Ford selected for the work, his son-in-law, performed inferior workmanship and allegedly barged into the plaintiffs’ home over a dispute about the project.
The suit says Ford and Ford Associates have ignored a formal written request to release the lien, despite the plaintiffs’ having made all payments owed under a contract in which the plaintiff and defendant were involved.
Haynie and Hatfield seek a jury trial and punitive and compensatory damages in an amount to be proven at trial. They are represented by attorneys John P. Fuller and James W. Marshall III of Bailey & Wyant PLLC in Charleston. Judge Joanna Tabit is assigned to the case.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 16-C-112