BELLEVILLE – A Cahokia homeowner claims a drain tile in her basement was not installed properly, causing leaks and damages to her property.
Evelyn Gainer, of Cahokia, filed suit Jan. 14 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Midwest Basement Technologies (MBT) over work carried out in the basement of the house on St. Cletus.
A company representative for the defendant said there was no one immediately available to comment on the suit.
The lawsuit alleges breach of warranty along with violations of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices acts.
The suit states that Gainer bought the single-family house in 1976. Six years later, a sump pump and drain tile were installed in the basement, which worked until 2011 when leaks appeared.
MBT was hired to replace the drain tile and run it to the pump. The work came with a lifetime warranty, according to the suit. The plaintiff alleges the repair worked until 2017 when leaks once again started to occur.
"MBT sent a crew to plaintiff's house to replace part of the old drain tile with new," the suit states. "The MBT crew tore out approximately 20 feet of concrete along the east wall and eight feet along the south wall of plaintiff's house in order to gain access to the drain tile."
The plaintiff claims her grandson, who was observing, noticed that the drain tile was covered by soil and not gravel. The job was completed by replacing the soil with limestone rock.
However, Gainer alleges that in April 2019, there was a leak along one entire wall. MBT allegedly installed a second basin and sump pump in the basement's bedroom.
"MBT recognized the new basin was not suitable for its intended purpose, but chose to leave the basin in place until the water level subsided," the suit states. "The same evening MBT installed the new basin, the pump began sucking in soil from beneath the exterior corner of Plaintiff" s house next to the driveway."
As a result of the soil depletion, the corner of the plaintiff's house began to sag, causing cracks to form in the foundation, the lawsuit states.
The defendant is accused of failing to cover the drainage tile with proper gravel. MBT is also accused of cutting an over sized hole in the drainage basin in order to connect the drainage pipe, which then allowed soil and gravel to drain into the basin and get pumped out along with the drainage water.
The plaintiff, who is seeking $100,000 in damages, is represented by Mitchell B. Stoddard of Consumer Law Advocates in Chesterfield, Mo.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 2020-L-0044