Alleged poor craftsmanship leads to suit against contractor

Alleging poor craftsmanship, Herman and Gaye Miller have filed suit against Designer Floors & Interiors, the company hired to install new wood floors in the couple's home.

The suit was filed Oct. 6 in Jefferson County District Court.

According to the suit, on Feb. 27 the couple hired Designer Floors & Interiors to install wooden floors in their Groves home. On March 4 a Designer Floors' contractor began taking out the old linoleum floor and on March 7 the contractor began installing the new wooden floor.

"During the course of the installation, Plaintiffs noticed that the ends were bowing upward," the suit says. "At that time Herman & Gaye Nell Miller called the owner of Designer Floors, Stephanie Osborne, and told her about the problems with the floor.

"On March 10, 2008, Stephanie Osborne came out to look at the floor and by this time the floor had buckled up in the center and most of the end joints had risen up about 1/16 of an inch off of the floor. A couple of weeks later a representative from Shaw Flooring came out to the house to inspect the floor.

"Thereafter, Shaw Flooring sent an independent Floor Evaluator to inspect the floor and his report indicated that the problem with the floor was an installation problem and not a manufacturing defect."

Because of the damage caused by Designer Floors, the couple must now have their new floors pulled and replaced, the suit says.

"Defendant was negligent in the manner n which they Installed Plaintiffs' wooden floor," the suit says. "As a result of this negligence, Plaintiffs' incurred damages to their floor and the future cost of removing and replacing the floor."

The suit accuses the defendant of breach of contract and deceptive trade practices violations.

The plaintiffs are suing for actual and compensatory damages, plus all court costs.

They are demanding a trial by jury and are represented by attorney Giles Kibbe of the Weller, Green, Toups & Terrell law firm.

The case has been assigned to Judge Gary Sanderson, 60th Judicial District.

Case No. B182-512