CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — UPDATE (Wednesday evening):
A Downtown Chattanooga restaurant is making sure Tennessee American Water company is held accountable for the recent water main break.
It shutdown businesses, halted surgeries and left thousands of people without water.
Parkway Pourhouse is part of a class action lawsuit that’s suing Tennessee American Water Company.
Attorney Lee Davis and Van Bunch filed the class action lawsuit Tuesday. They say the private water company breached their contract, failed to provide an alternate water supply and knew the pipeline was at risk.
“This was an incident that happened because a water company failed to report their line,” said Davis.
Davis and Bunch filed the class action lawsuit Tuesday. They believe Tennessee American Water Company neglected the piping for decades knowing a failure could happen.
“We were not hit by a hurricane. This could have been avoided we believe if it had been properly maintained,” said Davis.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger and Commissioners want to know how much money this water main break is costing taxpayers.
Emergency management explained to commission Wednesday that they’re tracking the money spent on supplies, overtime, lost wages and more.
“They owe their customers a candid and transparent explanation of what happened,” said Davis.
As for Parkway Pourhouse, they say they could lose money long term. They believe the water main break is a prime example that customers can’t trust the city to provide safe drinking water.
Mayor Coppinger says if the county lost $9 million due the water main break, FEMA can declare it a disaster. But Davis and Bunch say this wasn’t a hurricane. They say it was avoidable.
We asked Tennessee American if they plan to take this case to court. They say they’re aware of the lawsuit but cannot comment since it’s an open case.
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UPDATE (Wednesday morning):
At their weekly meeting Wednesday morning, Hamilton County Commissioner joined the chorus of those who want details on the total cost of the water main break in Hamilton County.
He was the first to bring the issue up at the meeting.
He commended first responders for helping people distribute water but expressed concern about water infrastructure.
Deputy Director of Emergency Management Marc Ericson says a cost analysis will take time. He says they will have to factor in things like closing county government offices, first responder costs, and other factors.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger says the County's Emergency Operations Center ran from 10 o'clock Thursday night until Monday afternoon.
PREVIOUSLY:
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Tennessee American Water (TAWC) and other water utilities after a major water main break left thousands of customers in Chattanooga and North Georgia without running water.
Chattanooga attorney Lee Davis of Davis & Hoss, P.C. filed the lawsuit in Hamilton County Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon, just a day after Tennessee American Water said water was fully restored to the area.
The suit was filed on behalf of Tennessee residents Shaun Christopher Bruce and Robert Scott Kelly, Trinity Entertainment, LLC, and others affected by the incident.
Davis says Trinity Entertainment owns and operates Parkway Pourhouse, a restaurant on Riverfront Parkway. During a recommended boil water advisory, Parkway Pourhouse served bottled water and stopped using fountain drinks. The lawsuit says the restaurant lost business, and Trinity "asserts that it faces the potential for a long-term decrease in revenue because of the continuing effect on consumer confidence in the local water supply."
“We filed the case to ensure that area residents and business are not left holding the bag for Tennessee American Water’s utter failure to provide a safe continuous supply of tap water,” said Davis.
On Monday afternoon, TAWC officials said there was "no obvious cause" to the incident. Today, Chattanooga City Councilwoman Carol Berz asked Public Works if they are reviewing a decade-old study that predicted a failed infrastructure.
The lawsuit claims that the crisis was "the result of a foreseeable failure in a distribution pipe out of Defendants' Wiehl Street Plant," and that the utility company could have prevented or avoided what happened "with better precautionary measures, compliance with applicable regulations, and the use of reasonable care."
As a result of Thursday night's break, many businesses in Chattanooga shut down.
"Certain Plaintiffs and Class Members operate businesses that lost revenue because of the water outage. Class Member food service businesses are dependent upon continuous access to potable water across the service area."
The lawsuit doesn't specify an amount in damages, but asks for damages including wages lost, business & economic losses, damages for out-of-pocket expenses for those affected, attorneys' fees and other relief as deemed appropriate.
Davis added, “we joined with the lawyers who successfully prosecuted a similar water loss case against American Water and another of its subsidiaries, West Virginia-American Water Company. Information on that case is available at https://www.wvwaterclaims.com/. While we cannot guarantee an outcome, we hope for an equally good result here and are prepared to put forth the effort necessary to see that happens on behalf of our clients and everyone adversely affected by this water outage.”
Davis says residents and businesses who were without water, hourly wage earners unable to work due to the outage, or anyone else looking for more information on the claims can contact Van Bunch of Bonnett Fairbourn Friedman & Balint, P.C., by email at vbunch@bffb.com, or by office telephone at 855-882-6336. You can also contact Lee Davis of Davis & Hoss, P.C., by email at lee.davis@davis-hoss.com.
You can see the full lawsuit below: