CHARLESTON – A St. Albans couple says a contractor failed to properly build a house for them.
Chad and Morganne Parsons filed their complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against Bentz Property & Contracting LLC and Kenneth Roger Pence.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs contracted with Bentz to construct a “dry-in,” which basically is the outer shell of a house, on Ennis Lane in St. Albans, on February 21, 2019. They say construction started later than expected in July 2019.
Giatras
By early October 2019, the plaintiffs say they became aware the work being done was below standards. By late October 2019, the plaintiffs halted the project because of these issues. They then hired Merritt Engineering to evaluate the integrity of the work done by Bentz.
In its report, Merritt listed 28 items of concern “based on sound engineering judgment, typical residential wood framing practices and experience with similar structural framing.”
The list of defects included foundation and floor support piers not being constructed as shown on drawings, quality of masonry block installation and steel beams in place did not have adequate bearing area on the walls.
“Taken as a whole – the construction techniques and installation quality of the home so far is very poor,” the Merritt report stated. “It is very likely that additional items and issues will be found as the corrective work is undertaken by a quality residential framing contractor.”
After the Merritt investigation and report, the plaintiffs decided to discontinue their work with the defendants. They say they were forced to hire additional contractors and increase their construction loan to restart the work.
They say the property remains “in an uninhabitable state of disrepair” to this day.
They accuse the defendants of violations of state code regarding their workmanship, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligence, common law misrepresentation, breach of express warranty and breach of implied warranty of merchantability.
They seek compensatory damages and special damages for monetary losses as well as for undue and unreasonable harassment, oppression, abuse, aggravation, annoyance and inconvenience as well as statutory damages for inflation under the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act, punitive damage, interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Troy Giatras and Phillip A. Childs of The Giatras Law Firm in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 21-C-895