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Insurance company driller over home explosion
(by Joan Demirjian - January 07, 2010)
Insurance company driller over home explosion
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
A lawsuit by the company that insured the home impacted by a natural-gas explosion on English Drive in Bainbridge has been filed against Ohio Valley Energy, of Austintown.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., of Columbus, insured the home of Richard and Thelma Payne, which exploded on Nov. 15, 2007, due to a leak of methane gas attributed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to a nearby gas well.
The lawsuit names as defendants Ohio Valley Energy Systems Corp. and Wildcat Drilling LLC, both of Austintown, and Universal Well Services Inc., of Cleveland.
The defendants were responsible for the underground gas-well planning and drilling near the property owned by the Paynes, according to the Nationwide lawsuit.
The Payne property was "destroyed in an explosion occurring when methane gas ignited in the basement," according to the lawsuit. "The gas entered the Payne property basement via a naturally occurring ground-water aquifer through which the gas traveled from a nearby well where defendants were drilling."
The lawsuit says, "As a direct result of defendants' actions and/or omissions, Nationwide was required to pay to or on behalf of the Paynes, the sum of $165,466.06 for damages and expenses incurred by the Paynes and as a result, Nationwide has become subrogated to that extent."
The explosion and resulting damage to the Paynes' property "were caused by defendants' negligence in failing to exercise reasonable care and otherwise failing to use due care under the circumstances," according to the lawsuit."
The lawsuit claims that the defendants unlawfully entered upon and interfered with the Paynes' surface and subsurface property and ground-water rights.
As a direct result, Nationwide sustained damages totaling $165,466.06, and the Paynes remain uncompensated in the amount of $1,000 for their deductible, according to the lawsuit.
The defendants' drilling operations "were, by their inherently dangerous nature and/or by defendants' negligent performance, a nuisance that caused the explosion and resulting damage to the Payne property," the lawsuit claims.
Nationwide is requesting the compensation in the amount of $166,466.06, according to the lawsuit.
Attorneys Glen H. Garrett and Andrew R. Kasle, of Cleveland, are representing Nationwide.
The Paynes have since moved to a condominium in Tanglewood Lake in Bainbridge.
Charles Masters, president of Ohio Valley Energy, said the couple was paid by the insurance company for the house as a total loss.
However, he said, Ohio Valley Energy brought in an engineer who said the house was not uninhabitable.
Ohio Valley Energy offered to pay to fix it and pay for temporary living quarters for the Paynes, but the house was declared condemned by the person sent in by the insurance company, Mr. Masters said. "The estimates to restore it to a point better than it was before was $26,000," he said.
It included replacing some floor tiles, painting and replacing some older windows, he said.
Ohio Valley Energy then bought the house for $60,000. The company had some new drywall put in upstairs, and a hole in the basement block wall was fixed, he said. Ohio Valley Energy has added two bedrooms and a bath to the house. "It is nicer than before," Mr. Masters said.
During the work, they found an old water well that was replaced in the 1970s that had never been plugged with cement, Mr. Masters said. It ran right into the house, he said.
A city waterline is being installed to supply Cleveland water to the houses affected by the gas leak in the English and Scotland drives area.
Ohio Valley Energy is paying for the line installation and for the water tanks being used by affected property owners.
Residents had hoped for water by Christmas, but Dale Markowitz, attorney for several of them, said none of the houses were connected by that time.
"But it is not too far off," he said. It took two years to get the line started, he said.
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