CHARLESTON — A Kanawha County couple is suing Mountaineer Gas Company claiming they are responsible for a house explosion.
WV Airnet, which is doing business as SecureNet, BND Services and 3J Underground also were named as defendants in the suit.
Michael Grubb and Tracy Grubb claim Mountaineer was a member of the One-call system covering the area where their home is, according to a complaint filed Sept. 8 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
The Grubbs claim BND provides underground construction services in the area, while 3J also provides construction services and SecureNet was retained by BND to install fiber optic cable.
The complaint lays out several incidents were certain defendants damaged utility providers' underground lines, including both Mountaineer and West Virginia American Water between June and August.
In one incident, in June, the defendants failed to hand-dig or "spot" the underground gas facilities while using directional drilling equipment, which caused damages to Mountaineer's gas main and resulted in Mountaineer incurring $9,575.33 in costs and damages.
On Aug. 7, BND and/or 3J damaged Mountaineer's gas main located near the plaintiffs' home and did not timely report the odor of gas to Mountaineer, according to the suit.
The Grubbs claim sometime after that, it was reported and then Mountaineer came to the area at 3:09 p.m. and at 3:20 p.m., Mountaineer placed an orange traffic sign in the middle of Virginia Avenue and then on each side of the sign, placed traffic cones.
Upon information and belief, the defendants were unable to locate the shut-off valve related to Mountaineer's underground gas facilities on Virginia Avenue in Dunbar and did not immediately warn and/or alert residents and/or individuals of the discovered emergency condition, according to the suit.
The Grubbs claim at approximately 5:40 p.m., their home exploded and they were in their home at the time of the explosion.
The plaintiffs suffered physical, emotional and economic injuries as a result of the explosion.
"All of a sudden, the whole house rose up and did a jerk in the air and slammed back down," Michael Grubb, the owner of the house, told WCHS News. "The wall in front of me fell on top of my head and I was trying to push it back up."
The Grubbs told the news media no one told them what was going on when they were working earlier in the day or told them to leave.
Mountaineer Gas blames BND and 3J Underground.
The Grubbs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are represented by R. Dean Hartley, Mark R. Staun and David B. Lunsford of Hartley Law Group and Eric J. Buckner of Katz Kantor Stonestreet & Buckner on Princeton.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Tera Salango.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 23-C-795
