Condo association sues waterproofing company for thin coverage

NEW ORLEANS – A New Orleans condo association is suing a waterproofing company for applying too-thin coats of its product on its building.

1205 St. Charles Condominium Association Inc. filed suit against Advance Waterproofing Co. Inc. and Gregory G. Kempton in the Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Aug. 16.

The plaintiff claims that the defendants failed to complete work on the building in question according to the agreement laid out in their contract.

The defendant is accused of failing to apply two full coats of Elastomeric coating so that the manufacturer would not warrant the product as it did not meet thickness requirements according to the product specifications.

1205 St. Charles claims that it was forced to hire another company, Acadian Waterproofing & General Maintenance LLC, to provide an estimate to complete the project. Their estimated cost was $78,800.

The plaintiff alleges that Gregory Kempton, the then-president and secretary of Advance Waterproofing, is personally liable for the company’s contractual obligations “under the alter-ego doctrine and theory of piercing the corporate veil for the following non-exclusive particulars:” undercapitalization, failure to meet corporate formalities, failure to hold regular corporate meetings, and comingling corporation and shareholder funds.

Furthermore, the Association believes that the defendant may be unable to pay any unfavorable judgment against Advance Waterproofing due to bankruptcy.  They seek $50,600.00 for completion of the project and warranting for the deficient application of Elastomeric coating minus the unpaid amount due to the defendant on the contract.

The plaintiff is represented by Brian D. Katz of Herman, Herman & Katz LLC.

The case has been assigned to Division H Judge Michael D. Bagneris.

Case no. 2013-07744.