Independence sued By Space Center Inc. over alleged cave in

Alleged damage related to work done on the new Independence Athletic Complex has led to the underground warehouse company that owns the land filing a lawsuit against the city and the contracting and construction companies hired to do the work.

Space Center Inc., owner and operator of the  underground limestone mine at 601 S. Missouri p291, filed Monday in federal court in the Western District of Missouri a breach of contract and negligence claim against the city for allowing The Clark Enersen Partners, URS Corp. and L.B. Enterprises Inc. to build a youth athletic complex over a portion of the underground warehouse that led to a caved-in ceiling.

According to the lawsuit, Space Center claims that on June 24, 2006, a ceiling collapsed underneath where the complex was being built, causing the sprinkler system to go off where General Mills was storing large quantities of flour. Damage was estimated to total more than $1.2 million.

“It’s like everything else, if my ceiling falls, I just as soon blame someone else as to why my ceiling fell,” Independence City Attorney Allan Garner said of the suit.
Space Center attorney Alan K. Goldstein of Goldstein and Price, L.C., declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The collapse allegedly occurred in an area where L.B. Enterprises had dammed a creek, which created a small pond. When the pond was filled, the company allegedly put too much fill over where the ceiling collapsed, leading to the damage, the suit states.