Defendants have begun answering Marla and Laird Cole’s lawsuit over alleged releases from Newbern’s wastewater system, generally denying liability and forcing the case into discovery. The Town of Newbern filed its answer on Sept. 18, denying wrongdoing and demanding strict proof while admitting only limited background facts.
Engineering firm 5020 Engineering Resource Group and Dennis Wade Burcham also answered Sept. 18, issuing paragraphby- paragraph denials and asserting affirmative defenses.
On Sept. 19, Guthrie & Associates and Bob Guthrie answered and raised defenses including failure to state a claim, various immunity doctrines, and challenges to damages.
The Government Utilities Service Corporation of the Town of Newbern followed with its answer on Sept. 22, likewise denying the Coles’ allegations and demanding strict proof.
Separately, Kevin D. White, Ph.D., moved on Sept. 18 to dismiss all claims against him for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, arguing they are effectively claims against his employer—the University of South Alabama—and therefore barred by the State’s sovereign immunity. His filing attaches an affidavit about the project’s funding and contracting and asks, in the alternative, for a more definite statement.
Discovery has begun. On Sept. 23, Guthrie & Associates and Bob Guthrie filed a notice that they served their first interrogatories and document requests on the Coles; Government Utilities Service Corporation filed similar discovery the same day.
The Coles’ complaint, filed in Hale County Circuit Court Aug. 13, alleges that a concealed outfall pipe at or near the wastewater facility has routed untreated sewage and contaminated runoff onto their property, causing health symptoms, animal deaths and erosion; they seek damages, a permanent injunction to stop any discharges, and court-supervised cleanup and condemnation. The answers and motion filed so far place those allegations in dispute. The court has not ruled on the merits of the case.
