Edwardsville attorneys sue excavators over parking lot problems

After allowing a company to excavate soil beneath their parking lot, Edwardsville attorneys William Lucco and Joseph Brown say their parking lot has sustained substantial damages, including sagging, cracking and ponding.

Lucco and Brown filed a lawsuit Nov. 10 in Madison County Circuit Court against United Science Industries and Big Muddy Services.

They claim they allowed United Science to enter their land at 141 Vandalia St. and 224 St. Louis St. in 2003 to perform soil contamination remediation work for Thomeczek Oil Co. The defendants convinced Lucco and Brown to access soil on their property by promising to restore their parking lot to its prior condition following the excavation, according to the complaint.

After performing the excavation work, the defendants attempted to refill the large holes they had dug in the parking lot and to partially resurface the lot, the suit states.

However, the defendants allegedly caused substantial damage to Lucco's and Brown's parking lots by carelessly refilling and repairing the lots and by parking heavy vehicles on unexcavated portions of the lots, the complaint says.

As a result, the parking lots have severe sub-surface subsiding in addition to their sagging, cracking and ponding, the plaintiffs claim. Most likely, the parking lots will need to be re-excavated, filled, graded, paved and sealed, according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs blame the defendants for causing the damages to their lots, saying they negligently used poor filler material, failed to properly compact materials, failed to restore the parking lots to their previous conditions and parked heavy vehicles on the plaintiffs' parking lots.

In their two-count complaint, the plaintiffs seek a judgment of more than $100,000, plus costs.

Lucco, Brown, Threlkeld and Dawson serves as plaintiff counsel.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 10-L-1147.