In a striking legal move, a telecommunications giant has taken a construction company to court over alleged negligence that resulted in significant damage to critical infrastructure. Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, doing business as AT&T Texas, filed a complaint against Webber Construction, LLC and Webber, LLC F/K/A Webber Construction, LLC in the District Court of Harris County on August 9, 2024.
According to the complaint filed by AT&T Texas, the incident occurred on August 11, 2022. The plaintiff alleges that while conducting construction work near 7501 FM 1960 in Humble, Harris County, Texas, employees or agents of Webber Construction severely damaged an accurately marked buried fiber cable belonging to AT&T Texas. The telecommunications company asserts that the defendants had requested that buried facilities and cables be marked before commencing their work but then negligently disregarded all warnings and markers indicating the location of the fiber cable.
The petition details numerous acts of negligence attributed to Webber Construction's employees or agents. These include ignoring visual and verbal warnings about the buried cable's location, failing to maintain proper lookout for markers indicating the cable's position, operating construction equipment unsafely, and not stopping equipment to avoid damaging the cable. "Each of these acts and/or omissions... constituted negligence and/or negligence per se which proximately caused... Plaintiff AT&T Texas' injuries and damages," states the complaint.
AT&T Texas is seeking compensation for material repair costs, labor repair costs, and contractor repair costs associated with fixing the damaged fiber cable. In accordance with Rule 47(c)(1) of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, they have stated that they seek monetary relief of $250,000 or less. Additionally, they are asking for pre-judgment interest as provided by law, post-judgment interest as provided by law, costs of suit, and any other relief deemed just by the court.
Representing AT&T Texas is Rene L. Obregon from Chaves Obregon & Perales law firm based in Corpus Christi. The case has been assigned Case ID 2024-51238 and will be heard in Harris County’s 133rd Judicial District Court under Judge Wanda Chambers.