CHARLESTON – A Charleston couple blames West Virginia-American Water for a pipe leak that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to their home and property.
Alex and Kaylyn Mareske filed their complaint August 2 in Kanawha Circuit Court against West Virginia-American Water Company.
According to the complaint, the Mareskes say they started noticing “excess and voluminous” amounts of water outside their home in June 2021. They say they took steps toward fixing the problem, including notifying WVAW, who denied liability for the issues for about a year.
“After the nearly constant water flow resulting from defendant’s negligence flowed unimpeded into plaintiffs’ home and upon their property for a year,” the defendant admitted liability in June 2022 and tried to fix its leak. But, the company was unable to fix the faulty lines until December.
The water intrusion caused flooding and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to the couple’s home and property, including the garage, a void area under the garage, deck, deck posts, sidewalks, walkways, driveways, foundation, drywall, interior, kitchen flood, yard and landscaping.
“No valid justification whatsoever exists for defendant’s failures to maintain its service lines,” the complaint states, adding that WVAW’s “willful and wanton disregard” for plaintiffs’ property means that plaintiffs are entitled to punitive damages.
“Defendant knew, or should have known, that it was negligently operating its water lines and that the same was causing damage to plaintiffs’ property. However, despite its knowledge of the same, defendant failed to rectify (in a timely manner), or take steps to rectify (in a timely manner), the flooding, even despite assurances that the pipes would be fixed.”
The Mareskes accuses WVAW of negligence, nuisance, trespass and strict liability. They seek compensatory and punitive damages, equitable relief, pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The couple is being represented by Shawn R. Romano and Miles B. Berger of Romano & Associates in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 23-C-661