JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Legal Newsline) - Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a lawsuit Wednesday against two Arkansas businesses that allegedly violated Missouri's Underground Facility Safety and Damage Prevention Act, which is also known as the One Call law.
DTS Brokerage & Development LLC owns and operates DTS Custom Homes, a Farmington, Ark.-based housing development business. Pinnacle Plumbing LLC owns and operates Pinnacle Plumbing & Mechanical, a company that performed excavation work for DTS Custom Homes in two Joplin residential locations.
DTS Brokerage & Development and Pinnacle Plumbing allegedly violated the One Call law by calling in a location to One Call in May that was not for the correct area in which it planned to dig. The companies also allegedly called in a completely erroneous location during a second incident in June. In both the May and June incidents, Pinnacle Plumbing struck underground gas lines.
"Missouri's One Call system provides an important protection for underground utilities and the surrounding areas," Koster said. "The law is clear that excavators must have underground utilities marked before any digging begins. Any excavator who does not provide a clear description of where he will dig, fails to check for underground utilities or who begins digging before utilities are marked will be held accountable by my office."
Koster is requesting that the court issue a preliminary and permanent injunction to prohibit the defendants from engaging in any further One Call law violations, assess a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per day for each violation and require the companies to pay all costs connected with the matter.
Mo. AG sues Ark. business for One Call violations
