Businesses forced to shut down temporarily after a work crew bored a hole into a key water main at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport are suing Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) for negligence over last year’s accident.
The complaint was filed by The Moskowitz Law Firm in Coral Gables on behalf of six plaintiffs whose businesses could not operate for several days due to insufficient water. Attorney Adam Moskowitz filed for class certification in the case in Florida’s 17th Judicial Circuit in a bid to provide compensation to thousands of businesses
“We have finally been able to uncover in the discovery process that FPL hired three smaller contractors to perform the job so they could save money and that they all committed various reckless acts that caused hundreds of millions of dollars to almost 80,000 businesses in Broward County,” Moskowitz said in an email to the Florida Record.
Contractors and subcontractors hired for an FPL electrical project were performing “ultra-hazardous” horizontal drilling work when the accident took place on July 17, 2019, according to the lawsuit.
“... Defendants’ conduct was so reckless and grossly negligent that had it not resulted in tremendous damages to thousands of businesses in our community, it would be almost comical,” the complaint states.
In addition, the workers who did the drilling were unlicensed and failed to take standard measures to locate the water main prior to the work, the claim says.
A hearing is scheduled for late September, when Judge William Haury will decide whether to certify the class action, according to Cindi Avila, spokeswoman for the law firm. A liabilities and damages trial has been set for January.
“That means it is not brought just on behalf of these five businesses just for them, but we make the case on behalf of all 10,000 businesses that all had damages,” Avila said.
Although business associations typically criticize class actions, some of these groups have supported the Broward County case, since they see it as the only way for small businesses affected to take on a large utility such as FPL, she said.
An FPL spokesman said the utility does not comment on pending litigation.