Stathers v. Garrard County Board of Education

405 S.W.3d 473, 2012 WL 3762035
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedAugust 31, 2012
DocketNos. 2010-CA-002212-MR, 2010-CA-002281-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 405 S.W.3d 473 (Stathers v. Garrard County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stathers v. Garrard County Board of Education, 405 S.W.3d 473, 2012 WL 3762035 (Ky. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

ACREE, Chief Judge:

Randall and Bobbie Stathers, and Bran-dalyn Elkins appeal the Garrard Circuit Court’s November 8, 2010 order granting summary judgment in favor of appellees Garrard County Board of Education (Board), Branscum Construction Company, Inc. (Branscum), Elza Construction, LLC (Elza), Impact Drilling & Blasting, Inc.,1 and Irvine and Pyles Drilling Company, Inc. (Irvine and Pyles). The circuit court found that the Stathers and Elkins failed to present sufficient evidence that blasting by the appellees caused damage to their respective homes.

The Board, Branscum, and Elza cross-appeal the circuit court’s June 7, 2010 order finding that the Board is not entitled to governmental immunity and, in turn, denying the Board’s motion to dismiss.

For the reasons that follow, we reverse as to the appeal, affirm as to the cross-appeal, and remand for additional proceedings.

I. Facts and Procedure

In June 2007, the Board entered into a contract with Branscum to build a new high school building in Lancaster, Kentucky. To aid in the construction, Brans-cum hired Elza to serve as the project’s [476]*476general contractor. Elza then subcontracted with Irvine and Pyles to complete specialized blasting work at the school construction site.

Randall and Bobbie Stathers, husband and wife, reside approximately one-half mile from the construction site. Branda-lyn Elkins is the Stathers’ next-door neighbor.

From August 2007 through June 2008, blasting regularly occurred at the construction site. The blasting caused the Appellants’ houses to shake and rattle. Within weeks of the start of the blasting, the Appellants noticed interior and exteri- or cracks developing in their homes, and doors were no longer shutting properly.

In the fall of 2008, the Stathers and Elkins filed separate yet virtually identical complaints against the Appellees, alleging they engaged in the ultra-hazardous activity of blasting at the construction site which produced violent concussions and vibrations resulting in significant damage to the Appellants’ residences.2 On October 6, 2008, the circuit court ordered the two lawsuits consolidated.

In January 2009, the parties began discovery; both the Stathers and Elkins were deposed.

During his deposition, Randall Stathers testified his house was built in 1958 and was originally owned by his grandfather. Randall explained that as a child he “ate Sunday dinner there every Sunday” and even “lived there for a couple of years.” Randall could not recall “any kind of remodeling or any kind of major construction or repairs or changes to the house” when it was owned by his grandfather. Upon purchasing the house in 2004, Randall testified he was not aware of any settling or stress cracks in the house.

Randall explained that, in the fall of 2007, he was “leaving early in the morning and getting home late at night” so he was not home when most of the blasting occurred. However, Randall recalled feeling blasts on days when he was home early. In all, Randall testified he felt “two pretty good [blasts] and two or three slight [blasts].” During one of the large blasts, Randall claimed the “house shook quite violently.”

Barbara Stathers testified that, unlike Randall, she was home daily and often felt the house shake as a result of the blasting. Barbara testified that, starting in August 2007, she “could feel the house move whenever there was blasting.” Barbara explained: “I mean, you could hear it and the floors shook and the windows.... Anytime there was blasting, you could feel it. You know, if you stand on the floors, you could feel the floors move.” Barbara recalled a particularly big blast that occurred on October 10, 2007, which she “could really hear” and that “really shook” the house; a similar “huge blast” occurred on October 22, 2007. In all, Barbara testified she felt blasts on approximately thirty-seven days between August 2007 and June 2008.

Like Randall, Barbara did not recall any cracks or damage to the interior or exteri- or of the house prior to the fall of 2007. On or about October 15, 2007, Barbara’s insurance agent advised her to begin inspecting the house for damage. Upon doing so, Barbara discovered interior and exterior cracking. Randall confirmed Barbara’s testimony, adding the cracks “were more noticeable after some of the big shocks” and he “kept noticing more dam[477]*477age” as time, and the blasting, progressed. Barbara also testified, prior to the blasting, both the back storm door and the living closet door shut but, starting in the fall of 2007, neither door would shut properly.

During Elkins deposition, she testified she purchased her house in 2003, and when she moved in, she personally removed all the wallpaper in the house and repainted every room with the exception of one. During this process, Elkins obtained “a good view of all of the walls” and observed no cracks or evidence of cracking, patchwork, or repairs. Similarly, a pre-pur-chase inspection of her home — required by her mortgage lender and conducted by a neutral third party — revealed only one pre-existing crack in the exterior brick veneer that the previous homeowner had repaired.

Elkins testified that, as an employee of the Garrard County Board of Education, she was aware of the construction project “from way back.” However, because El-kins worked full-time, she was often not home when the blasting occurred. Once the school year ended, Elkins felt blasts shake her house on May 28, 2008, May 29, 2008, and June 11, 2008.

Elkins began noticing damage to her house in September of 2007: “the first thing I noticed was my back door wasn’t shutting properly. It seemed to be off — I don’t know the correct word. It wasn’t lining up to shut properly. And then I started noticing more cracks, small, and then they would get larger, and just over time, over several months, everything just got progressively worse and it continues to get progressively worse.” Elkins testified that, as of 2009, there was “damage[ ] in every room of [her] house.” Elkins explained:

there is no room that does not have a crack in it. Every room, even inside the closets there are cracks in my house.... There’s some wall cracks, there’s some ceiling cracks. There are lots of cracks that go from the windows on up to the ceiling or the windows down to the floor or the door jamb up to the ceiling. It’s just — there’s no room exclusive of cracks.

Elkins testified the house “was built in 1957” and “there were no ceiling cracks or wall cracks like this in the house at the time that [she] bought the house in 2003.”

Following the taking of the Appellants’ depositions, Irvine and Pyles moved for summary judgment claiming the record was void of any evidence establishing the blasting at the construction site caused the damage to the Appellants’ homes. The Board, Branscum, and Elza quickly joined the motion. The Appellants responded to the summary judgment motion with two initial reports — one regarding each house — from Joseph Poage, a licensed structural engineer.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Timothy Eugene Elvis Davis v. Sig Sauer, Inc.
126 F.4th 1213 (Sixth Circuit, 2025)
Kimberly B. Carpenter v. Justin A. Saunders, M.D.
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2024
Robert Ragle v. Louisville Road Ventures, LLC
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2021
Fortney v. Guzman
482 S.W.3d 784 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2015)
Combs v. ICG Hazard, LLC
934 F. Supp. 2d 915 (E.D. Kentucky, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
405 S.W.3d 473, 2012 WL 3762035, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stathers-v-garrard-county-board-of-education-kyctapp-2012.