Photo: Colin Dacre – File Photo
The city of Kelowna is suing a local plumbing company and contractor after a flood at the Kelowna RCMP building in June 2021.
In a civil lawsuit filed on Tuesday, the city alleges that a coupling installed by Christman Plumbing & Heating during construction of the RCMP building on Richter Street in 2017 failed, causing extensive flooding four years later.
Work on the Kelowna RCMP Police Building on Richter and Clement Avenue began in September 2015 and in June 2017 police began work from the building.
The city says in the new court filing that Christman Plumbing & Heating installed the coupler while the police building was under construction in 2017.
“On or about June 1, 2021, water leaked from the coupler, the plumbing system connected to the coupler, or both, resulting in significant water damage to the plaintiff’s premises and personal property,” the city alleges.
The city says the coupler was improperly assembled and the bolts connecting to the coupler were not “sufficiently tightened.”
As a result, the city is accusing the plumbing company of breach of contract and negligence in carrying out the work. The city also accuses the contractor of the project of negligence.
The flooding resulted in a number of additional costs, according to the city, including engineering and consulting fees related to investigating the cause of the damage, emergency repairs, permanent repairs, replacement and repair of damaged contents and fixtures, and replacement of the couplers and attached plumbing systems.
Christman Plumbing & Heating has not yet filed a formal response to the city’s lawsuit. The company, which decided not to comment on the allegations at Castanet’s request on Thursday, is headquartered in Rutland with additional offices in Prince George and Whitehorse, Yukon.
www.castanet.net
https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/428616/City-of-Kelowna-sues-local-plumbing-company-over-work-on-RCMP-building
