Newport Beach family sues sanitation district

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- A year and a half after an Orange County Sanitation

District construction project allegedly damaged their home, a Newport

Beach family has sued the agency.

In the May 17 complaint, Robert Tighe claims the agency’s relocation

of a pump station -- used to move sewage to a treatment plant -- caused

$100,000 damage to his duplex.

Tighe’s attorney, Joe Utzurrum, said he waited to file the suit so his

client could properly assess the damage, which allegedly includes a

driveway separated from the house, a “tweaking” of windows and cracks in

the structure.

Tighe and the Mortellette Trust, the co-plaintiff, own a duplex at 516

and 516 1/2 Clubhouse Ave., which is kittycorner to City Hall. Norrene

Tighe, trustee of the Mortellette Trust, could not be reached for

comment.

“We just wanted to make sure the damage we’re assessing, that that is

it,” Utzurrum said. “Like in a personal injury case, you wait until the

patient is stable.”

Sanitation district spokeswoman Lisa Lawson acknowledged the project

didn’t run as smoothly as the district had hoped.

“It was a difficult project because of its close proximity to those

homes,” she said.

At the city’s urging, the district laid the groundwork for the project

in 1998 by hiring Advanco Constructors Inc., which has been in business

since 1958 and is in good standing with the California Contractors State

License Board.

The company later was bought by Walnut-based J.F. Shea Co. Shea

attorney Max Johnson could not be reached for comment Friday.

City officials urged the sanitation district to relocate the Lido Pump

Station underground because it was considered unsightly, said City

Manager Homer Bludau.

Bludau, who started work in May 1999, said he had not heard of the

lawsuit.

“It comes as news to me,” he said. “We wanted to put [the pump

station] underground so it would not be obstructing public views in a

residential neighborhood.”

The project began in June 1998 and was completed in December 1999,

according to the suit.

In addition to the property damage, Tighe claims in the suit that the

project caused him emotional distress because of “ear-piercing and

bone-chilling noises that were intolerable.”

The project also allegedly “emitted extremely repulsive odors and

caused great interference with the enjoyment and use of the property,”

the suit states.

In addition to the Tighe suit, the project resulted in a suit filed by

Gary Young, owner of nearby Newport Sunglass Co.

Young, whose building sustained visible structural damage, settled his

suit against the contractor.

The sanitation district includes a standard clause in construction

contracts that requires the builder to assume all liability for the job,

Lawson said.

Even though Tighe’s building wasn’t damaged as severely as Young’s

shop, Utzurrum said he is confident about the suit.

“We have a pretty solid case,” he said. “We should be allowed damages

for the diminution of the value of the home.”