CHARLESTON – A potential class action lawsuit has been filed in response to about 1,100 Charleston-area customers losing natural gas service over the weekend.
Robert Ruffin is the named plaintiff in the complaint filed November 14 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Mountaineer Gas Company and West Virginia-American Water Company. He lives on Charleston’s West Side, which is where a high-pressure water line suffered a break November 10.
The force of the water from the leak pierced a main gas line, sending thousands of gallons of water through the system. Mountaineer Gas officials say it could take a week or more to clear the water out of the gas lines.
“This loss of gas service is the result of combined inadequacies and failures within both WVAW’s water transmission system and Mountaineer Gas’s natural gas transmission system,” the complaint states.
The city, Mountaineer Gas, the Red Cross, the United Way and others are working to meet the needs of residents affected by the loss of gas service.
“The last several days have been difficult for the residents on the West Side of Charleston,” attorney L. Dante diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. “We look forward to helping our neighbors get compensated for what they have endured.”
DiTrapano’s law firm Calwell Luce diTrapano is located on the West Side. His firm also has sued WVAW previously for issues caused by other leaks.
According to the complaint, the potential class members are customers of Mountaineer Gas and WVAW.
“The presence of such quantities of water in natural gas lines … is dangerous, renders the natural gas lines unavailable for use and is time-consuming to repair,” the complaint states. “WVAW knew or should have known that the aforementioned water main was failure-prone because of its construction, joints, layout and usage characteristics as well as lack of ongoing and/pro-active maintenance and repair. …
“Mountaineer Gas knew or should have known that water mains operated by defendants WVAW … had a history of poor maintenance and repair as well as a history of catastrophic failure, and Mountaineer Gas failed to take adequate precautions to prevent the ingress of water from a ruptured water main (including the one at issue in this case) in a natural gas transmission system and prevent the contamination of the gas lines on plaintiff’s properties … with water.”
The complaint says Ruffin and the potential class members have suffered losses as a consequence of the loss of natural gas service, including substantial annoyance and inconvenience as well as out-of-pocket expenses and lost profit.
The complaint accuses Mountaineer Gas of breach of contract. It accuses WVAW of trespass and nuisance. It accuses both defendants of violation of statutory obligations and negligence.
Ruffin and the other potential class members seek compensatory and punitive damages. The complaint also seeks to have Ruffin appointed the class representative.
He is being represented by diTrapano and David H. Carriger of Calwell Luce diTrapano and by W. Jesse Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 23-C-1003
