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April 17, 2008

Lake Anne Condos File Lawsuit Against Dominion

By Leslie Perales Observer Staff Writer

Lake Anne of Reston Condominium Association filed a negligence lawsuit against Dominion Virginia Power in late February. The case is a result of "Dominion's negligent destruction of one of the Association's waste lines," according to the lawsuit, and LARCA is seeking a full reimbursement of the costs incurred to repair the line. LARCA President Rick Thompson said the dispute "wasn't easily settled so we had to get counsel involved."

In early January 2007, an underground electrical cable on LARCA's property stopped working, resulting in power outages, and Dominion was called to investigate the issue, the lawsuit states. Dominion hired D.A. Foster to make the repairs, "including boring into the ground and the replacement of one of the underground cables and a transformer." The work was completed in January 2007 and shortly after the owner of one of Lake Anne's commercial properties contacted LARCA to report a sewage backup on the property.

Officials at LARCA learned that a shattered waste drain line, which needed to be fixed immediately, caused the backup. The association had to hire four different contractors and pay a total of $17,721.18 to fix the damage, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states members of LARCA were concerned the damage was caused while Dominion and D.A. Foster were working on the electrical lines. According to the lawsuit, the "Defendant breached its duty to use due care by failing to identify the location of Plaintiff's underground drains, lines and conduits before Defendant began its work."

The lawsuit states that Jim Bolger of Dominion's Operations Department took record of the problem, determined D.A. Foster's crew caused the damage and billed the company for repairs. D.A. Foster refused to admit responsibility or pay for the damage.

Dominion Virginia Power then filed a third party lawsuit against D.A. Foster for breach of contract, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligence and equitable indemnity. Dominion has been contracting work to D.A. Foster since the two companies entered an agreement in 2003. According to Dominion's lawsuit, D.A. Foster agreed to defend Dominion against any claims, damages, costs, liabilities, attorney's fees and expenses caused by any services they or any of their subcontractors performed.

Thompson said there was no impact on Lake Anne residents, but LARCA had to dip into emergency funds for repairs. The dispute, he said, is now in the hands of the attorneys. "We think it's pretty clear that between the two of them there is fault and they should compensate us for the repair," Thompson said. According to LARCA's attorney, Sheyna Burt, they are waiting for D.A. Foster to respond to Dominion's portion of the lawsuit. D.A. Foster has until Friday to file their answer.

Le-Ha Anderson, Dominion's manager of media and community relations, said the company does not comment on ongoing litigation. D.A. Foster's William McGolrick, who was named in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.