CHARLESTON – The president of the Kanawha County school board has sued West Virginia American Water again, this time on behalf of his minor children, after his historic Edgewood home was destroyed by fire in 2023.
Ric Cavender, as parent of S.C. and E.Z., filed the new complaint August 25 in Kanawha Circuit Court against West Virginia-American Water Company, claiming the water company did not properly maintain fire hydrants in his neighborhood.
A 2023 lawsuit he filed for himself against WVAWC was settled last year.
According to the complaint, firefighters responded to the fire at Cavender’s home on Chester Road late on May 5, 2023, five minutes after they were alerted of the fire.
“The firefighters had everything they needed – except water,” the complaint states. “His home burned to the ground while firefighters scrambled around the neighborhood for hours desperately searching for a fire hydrant with a water supply.
“Mr. Cavender lost everything – his home, his personal belongings and Duke, the family dog.”
The complaint says firefighters tried and failed to get water out of the three hydrants closest to Cavender’s home. Firefighters inside the home, which was on the National Register of Historic Places, were forced to retreat from the blaze.
The complaint says the company “was failing its legal and contractual duties to deliver sufficient water pressure to the fire hydrants.”
The complaint says firefighters were unable to control the blaze because there wasn’t enough water pressure in the hydrants. Firefighters and neighbors watched as the fire grew, worried winds might shift and carried the flames to adjacent homes and buildings.
Eventually, firefighters from Sissonville, Glasgow and the 130th Air National Guard Base brought tankers of water to help. Four hours later, the fire was doused, but the home and the belongings were lost. So was Duke, who had run back into the home.
The complaint says West Virginia American Water is responsible for installing, inspecting and maintaining hydrants, water mains, pipes and pumps. That includes ensuring proper service and functioning. The City of Charleston pays the company to ensure sufficient water flows through hydrants when needed. In fiscal year 2023, for example, the city paid $160,000 in taxpayer money for fire hydrant fees.
The company “abjectly failed at its duty to ensure that the fire hydrants have adequate water pressure, thus causing the destruction of Mr. Cavender’s home and belongings,” the complaint states.
He accuses the company of negligence, gross negligence, breach of contract and violating its duties under state code.
Cavender seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, consequential damages, pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
He is being represented by Michael B. Hissam, Isaac R. Forman and Carl W. Shaffer of Hissam Forman Donovan Ritchie in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 25-C-1020
