Phone outage subject of civil lawsuit

Disrupted landline telephone service in parts of southern Oconee County nearly two years ago is at the heart of a civil lawsuit filed this week in the Common Pleas Court.  Bellsouth Telecommunications, which does business as A-T-and-T in South Carolina, is asking for a jury trial to assess damages against S and S Construction Company of Anderson.  According to the plaintiff’s allegations S and S Construction, while engaging in construction-related services at or around West-0ak Highway and Tokeena Road, failed to determine the location of underground facilities “in which it intended to excavate, or failed to heed the locator markings provided to identify the location of underground facilities.”  It’s further alleged that S and S did not “provide timely notice of the damage.” According to the phone company, the damage disrupted service and affected company profits after incurring repair costs.