City of Kelowna sues local plumbing company over work on RCMP building

Photo: Colin Dacre - file photo

The City of Kelowna is suing a local plumbing company and contractor following a June 2021 flood at the Kelowna RCMP building.

In a notice of civil claim filed Tuesday, the city claims a coupling installed by Christman Plumbing & Heating during the 2017 construction of the RCMP building on Richter Street failed and caused extensive flooding four years later.

Work on the Kelowna RCMP police services building, located at Richter and Clement Avenue, began in September 2015, and police began operating out of the building in June 2017.

The city says in the new court filing that Christman Plumbing & Heating installed the coupling while the police services building was under construction in 2017.

“On or about June 1, 2021, water escaped from the coupling, the plumbing system connected to the coupling, or both, causing extensive water damage to the premises and the plaintiff's personal property,” the city claims.

The city says the coupling was improperly installed and the bolts connected to the coupling were not “sufficiently tightened.”

As a result, the city claims the plumbing company breached its contract and were negligent in the work performed. The city also claims negligence on the part of the project's contractor.

The flooding resulted in a number of additional expenses, the city says, including engineering and consulting costs associated with investigating the cause of the damage, emergency repairs, permanent repairs, replacing and repairing damaged contents and fixtures, and replacing the coupling and connected plumbing systems.

Christman Plumbing & Heating has yet to file a formal response to the city's lawsuit. The company, which opted not to comment on the allegations when contacted by Castanet Thursday, has its head office in Rutland, along with other offices in Prince George and Whitehorse, Yukon.