Eastlake Store Owners Suing Over Tainted Water

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After drinking and cleaning with treated sewage water for two years, the owners of Candy Bouquet in Chula Vista said they are prepared to go to court.  Amy Wise and Angela Mason are suing the Otay Water District and the City of Chula Vista because their business and several others at the Fenton Business Center in Chula Vista was hooked up to the wrong water line. What was supposed to be clean, potable water was actually recycled water from the “purple pipe,” which is only supposed to be used for irrigation.  Tenants claimed to have several medical problems, including extreme weight loss and diarrhea.

The Candy Bouquet owners said their business was forced to close after customers were scared away.

They filed a lawsuit and they had a mediation hearing in October but a settlement wasn’t reached.  A trial is scheduled to begin in March. Otay Water District General Manager Mark Watton told 10News they haven’t reached a settlement because they can’t reach common ground.”When they’re asking for the kind of money they’re asking for, we just can’t hand it over,” said Watton.Watton said the Otay Water District has settled with about 90 percent of the other groups who filed suit against the District. However, Wise said that number is inaccurate and that the District has only settled with a handful of plaintiffs.”It’s sickening what the corporations and public entities think that they can get away with,” Wise said outside the Fenton Business Center, which she has visited only twice in the past two years.

Wise said she has vented her frustration through her writing and even wrote a book about Candy Bouquet’s ordeal, entitled, “Sewer Candy Store.” It will be included in a book set to be released later this year called “Oil and Water and Other Things that Don’t Mix.” The book focuses on corporate greed and focuses mostly on the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico.”We might be a small entity here and the Gulf oil spill is huge but it’s corporations doing exactly the same thing: crushing the little guy and it needs to stop,” said Wise.

All of the proceeds from the book will support those affected by the Gulf oil spill.In the meantime, Wise and Mason are facing another battle if and when the lawsuit with Otay Water is completed. Wells Fargo is suing the two for their unpaid business loan.”They’re suing us for their attorney’s fees. They’re suing us for interest on the loan on a store that doesn’t exist anymore,” Wise said.  She said Wells Fargo will just have to wait.”The well is dry. There’s no money for anybody.   They need to wait until the lawsuit is over,” said Wise.

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Posted by Eastlaketimes on Dec 1 2010. Filed under Business News in Chula Vista, Community of Eastlake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry