CHARLESTON – Two lawsuits have been filed against the Central West Virginia Regional Airport Authority after the homeowners’ properties were damaged due to blasting efforts.
Dyno Nobel Inc. and Central Contracting Inc. were also named as defendants in the suits.
On Aug. 1, 2014, Valerie Eve Brown and Regina Kay Carson’s properties and homes began experiencing cracks and subsidence that had not existed prior to the defendants’ blasting operations, according to two complaints filed Feb. 18 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
The plaintiffs claim the defendants removed earth in and around Yeager Airport and in the course of operating and blasting, the defendants have used explosives and loosened and removed overburden.
The defendants began blasting through the earth near the plaintiffs’ properties on Aug. 1, 2014, in the process of mountain removal and continue to do so presently, according to the suits.
Brown and Carson claim the blasting was and is an abnormally dangerous activity and the defendants are strictly liable for any and all damages to the plaintiffs’ properties caused by or resulting from the blasting.
As a direct and proximate result of the defendants’ blasting, the plaintiffs have incurred and will incur in the future damages to their homes and real properties; a decrease in the value of their properties; expenses for repairing their homes and properties; substantial annoyance and inconvenience; and the loss of use and enjoyment of their homes and properties, according to the suits.
Brown and Carson claim an interference with the private use and enjoyment of another’s land is unreasonable when the gravity of the harm outweighs the social value of the activity alleged to cause the harm.
While unsightliness alone rarely justifies interference by a circuit court applying equitable principles, an unsightly activity may be abated when it occurs in a residential area and is accompanied by other nuisances, according to the suits.
Brown and Carson are seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. They are being represented by G. Patrick Jacobs of the Law Office of G. Patrick Jacobs; and John H. Skaggs of the Calwell Practice LLC.
The cases are assigned to Circuit Judges Louis Bloom and Charles King.
Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers: 16-C-245, 16-C-246
