MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

The owner of a Fairview Heights home claims an O'Fallon plumbing company is to blame for an attic fire that caused nearly $65,000 worth of damage.

In a lawsuit filed Oct. 8 in St. Clair County Circuit Court, Leanard Patterson accuses Spengler Plumbing Company Inc. and Affordable Comfort of Missouri Inc. of negligence.

Patterson says he hired Spengler Plumbing in November 2008 to replace a furnace and air conditioning unit and to install insulation in the attic of a home on Elvira Drive in Fairview Heights.

Patterson says Spengler Plumbing Company contracted with Affordable Comfort to complete some of the work. The property owner says both companies failed to properly inspect the condition of wiring in the attic, failed to find damaged wiring and failed to repair or replace it before insulation was added.

The faulty wiring allegedly sparked a fire in the home's attic, causing more than $52,000 worth of damage. Patterson is asking Spengler Plumbing and Affordable Comfort to pay him that amount along with interest and court costs.

Also included in the lawsuit are Dana and Andrea Patterson who were living in the Elvira Drive home at time of the fire. They say the flames destroyed about $12,650 worth of personal property. The Pattersons are asking both defendants to reimburse them for the loss.

Jeffrey A. Kopis of the Kopis Law Office in Belleville is representing the Pattersons.

St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 10-L-530