Chatham County homeowner is taking Georgia Power to Superior Court

Whitemarsh Island, Ga. (WTOC) -A terminally ill Chatham County homeowner is taking Georgia Power to court, claiming a massive utility project damaged her property and proceeded without legal authorization.

Catalina Accardi, a Whitemarsh Island resident, filed an emergency motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and declaratory judgment in the Superior Court of Chatham County September 1st. Accardi is asking a judge to halt all physical construction, remove newly installed wiring and prohibit further work by Georgia Power on her property pending a judicial review of the utility’s property rights.

According to court documents filed by Accardi, the legal dispute began in July when she first noticed utility crews spray painting and preparing for an underground conversion project on her land. Accardi claims she repeatedly showed documentation proving the work was occurring on her private property, but crews disregarded her warnings.

Accardi said Georgia Power failed to come up with a resolution to fix her property damages. On September 3rd, she filed the lawsuit in Superior Court.

The suit alleges Georgia Power proceeded with the work without completing a promised professional boundary survey. Furthermore, Accardi claims she has an audio recording of a utility employee admitting that Georgia Power never surveyed the property lines before construction commenced.

The physical impact of the work has also left Accardi facing massive potential expenses. In her motion, she alleges that crews drove physical stakes directly into her yard, damaging her permitted septic absorption field. Replacing or repairing the subsurface system could cost anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000, depending on the complexity of the repairs.

“Without taking into account what the underground infrastructure was there, even after being informed, given the permit, given the septic and everything else, they continued to stake across it,” Accardi said.

In her court filings, Accardi contends that the lawsuit isn’t about recovering money, but rather protecting her home and forcing the utility to repair what was broken. She is seeking a judicial determination to establish on paper that the disputed grounds are private property.

“So I filed that declaratory judgment... to be determined that these are without a doubt on paper judicially private properties,” Accardi said.

Accardi and Georgia Power are expected to make their first court appearance Tuesday.

WTOC has reached out to Georgia Power regarding the claims in the lawsuit and anticipates a response in the coming days.