AT&T Sues to Recover $13,000 for Cables Damaged in Negligent Excavation

Sant Construction caused nearly $13,000 in damage to AT&T’s underground telecom cables and facilities in April 2022 when excavating negligently at a site in McAllen, Texas, alleged the carrier’s complaint Tuesday (docket C-1314-24-D) in Hidalgo County Judicial District Court. The contractor “failed to take reasonable care” in protecting the existing buried cables, conduits and telecommunication facilities from damage by failing to determine the location of those facilities through “safe and acceptable means,” alleged the complaint. Sant violated the Texas utilities code by failing to properly notify “a recognized state notification center” no later than 48 hours before the excavation was to begin, it said. AT&T “is clearly a member of the class the statute was designed to protect, and the violation of this statute directly and proximately caused the damages forming the basis of this lawsuit,” it said.