This former elementary school on Main Street in Point Pleasant now houses the offices of the Mason County Board of Education. A civil suit filed earlier this year alleges it was also the site of where Mitzi Spangler of Ashton injured herself while waiting to see county school Superintendent Larry A. Parsons.
William and Jane Bird allege that runoff last year from construction to the new addition to New Haven Elementary -� seen in the background -� flooded their back yard to the point where water was up to the level of their porch. Refusal by the Mason County Board of Education, and the company it contracted to perform construction, Mid-Atlantic Construction, to accept responsibility for the flooding has prompted the Bird’s to file suit.
POINT PLEASANT – The Mason County Board of Education is named as a defendant in two recent civil suits, one of which involves an alleged personal injury claim which occurred at the Board’s office.
Charles and Mitzi Spangler of Ashton and William and Jane Bird each have filed unrelated lawsuits against the Board earlier this year.
The Spanglers allege the Board is responsible for injuries Mitzi received when she fell in dimly lit room with an uneven floor at the Board’s office in Point Pleasant, while the Birds allege the Board shares responsibility for water damage sustained to their home as a result of run-off from construction to nearby New Haven Elementary.
Both cases are before Mason County Circuit Judge David W. Nibert.
Visiting the superintendent
The Spanglers filed suit against the Board on July 24. In their suit, the Spanglers allege Mitzi fell in a darkened room at the Board’s office located at the old Central Elementary School.
According to court records, Mitzi was there on Dec. 14, 2004, to meet county school Superintendent Larry E. Parsons at the request of the Board. The exact purpose of the meeting was not immediately clear.
Nevertheless, Spangler, through her attorney Matthew L. Clark of the Point Pleasant law firm of Kayser, Layne and Clark, alleges the injuries she sustained from the fall were a direct result of “an employee of the school board negligently direct[ing] the plaintiff into the darkened room that had been negligently maintained by the defendant, Mason County Board of Education, in that adequate lighting was not provided.”
“Additionally,” Clark said, “the floor at the darkened room was uneven, a condition not readily apparent to Mitzi Spangler.”
Water damage
About six months earlier, the Birds filed their suit against the Board. In the Bird’s case, the Board is listed as a co-defendant with Mid-Atlantic Construction, who according to court records, the Board hired to build a new addition onto New Haven Elementary.
In their suit, the Birds, through their attorneys John H. Bicknell and Meins E. Ketchum of the Huntington law firm of Greene, Ketchum, Bailey and Tweel, allege their property was flooded on July 18, 2005, after a heavy rain. The flooding, the Birds allege, was a direct result of excavation done to facilitate construction of the school’s addition.
The addition was done to make room for the additional students from Mason Elementary which was consolidated into New Haven. According to information provided by the state School Building Authority, over $5.2 million has been awarded to Mason County since 2003 to aid in the consolidation.
The grants include a supplemental one for nearly $550,000 in April 2005 for the increase in the cost of construction materials, and a second supplemental for $500,00 on July 1 for replacement of the heating and cooling system.
According to the Birds, the run-off was so bad that it knocked the mortar out of the concrete in their basement, and water was standing their backyard up to the level of their porch. In all, the Birds estimate they sustained $55,000 in damages to their home as result of the flooding.
Ironically, the Bird’s say living near the Ohio River that in 34 years “we’ve never had any water problems.”
Acceptance, then denial
Shortly after the flooding, William said he contacted the Board who sent representatives out to take a look at it. According to Bird, they expressed no reason why the Board couldn’t compensate them for the damages.
However, Bird said he received a letter from the Board saying the MAC was totally responsible for the damages. Later, Bird said, he received a letter from MAC denying responsibility.
“It was an act of God and they were not going to do anything about it,” Bird said. “God may have made it rain, but God didn’t do the digging, but God will see that I’m compensated,” Bird replied.
After attempts to mediate the dispute proved futile, the Birds say they filed their suit. Prior to the filing of the suit, the Birds say a make-shift earthen dam was constructed near their property to prevent any further run-off.
It was not immediately clear who ordered the construction of the dam. Also, William said he was told the Board considered the idea of constructing a drainage ditch, but the idea was shelved as not being feasible.
Since the Birds filed their suit, the Board through its legal counsel Brian D. Morrison, of the Charleston law office of Schumacher and Nelson, asserted on Feb. 13 the “damages, if any, were the direct and approximate result of an act of God which could have reasonably been anticipated.” In addition to reply to the Bird’s allegations the Board filed a cross claim against MAC asking it to hold the Board harmless from liability and reimburse it for any costs associated with a potential settlement.
In its reply March 9, MAC trough its then-attorneys Karen E. Jenkins and John R. Fowler of Charleston denied any negligence, and filed a cross claim against Raynes Excavating of Eleanor.
On April 13, Jenkins and Fowler filed a motion to substitute Randell L. Trautwein, of the Huntington law firm of Lamp, O’Dell, Bartram, Levy and Trautwein as legal counsel. The reason for the substitution was not immediately clear.
However, according to court records the cross claim MAC filed against Raynes was dismissed as all matters between them had been resolved.
Mason Circuit Court case numbers: 06-C-02 (Bird) and 06-C-112 (Spangler)