Beach house left leaning on neighbors’ homes after Florida storm. Now they’re suing
A three-story beachfront home still leans on two neighboring houses after a severe nighttime storm destroyed it in January, according to a new lawsuit.
The owners of the home, valued at more than $1 million, have left the structure “intruding” on two of their neighbors’ houses and won’t tear it down in Panama City Beach, Florida, a complaint filed April 3 says.
Neighbors Gene P. Stienecker and William Lawrence III are unable to live in their homes or fix the “extensive” damage the other property has caused, according to the complaint.
The storm that swept through Panama City and brought a tornado Jan. 9 caused the house to fall onto Stienecker’s home — and pushed part of it into Lawrence’s home, according to the complaint and photos provided to McClatchy News.
The homeowners, James Sturgeon and Yik Chun Wu, sought to demolish the structure but stopped a demolition scheduled for March 4 from happening, the complaint says.
When Stienecker and Lawrence arrived for the demolition that day, they “were ambushed with a demand that they agree to waive all liability relating to the demolition work or demolition would not proceed,” according to the complaint, which says they both denied the demand.
The leaning home remains resting in the same position. Sturgeon and Wu believe they aren’t required to remove it under Florida law, the complaint says.
This is the second time the Sturgeon-Wu home has fallen and damaged Stienecker and Lawrence’s homes, according to the complaint.
The neighbors are suing Sturgeon and Wu — seeking an injunction that will require them to remove their home — and want monetary damages to be decided by a jury, the complaint shows. They expect the damages to be more than $2 million.
Stienecker and Lawrence “have done all they can to try to get this property removed so they can get on with their lives while trying to protect themselves in the event additional damages occur in this process,” their attorney Rebecca Gilliland, of Beasley Allen Law Firm, told McClatchy News on April 11.
Information regarding Sturgeon and Wu’s legal representation wasn’t immediately available April 11. McClatchy News attempted to reach Sturgeon for comment April 11 and was unable to reach Wu.
The first time the house fell during bad weather
Sturgeon and Wu have owned the Panama City Beach property since 2014, Bay County records show. Both homeowners live in Georgia, the complaint says.
Construction on their home began April 4, 2018, according to the complaint.
Months later, Hurricane Michael caused the property to tip over and fall, damaging Stienecker and Lawrence’s homes in October 2018, the complaint says.
The home “has caused repeated and ongoing damage to plaintiff’s properties,” the complaint states.
Homes are ‘uninhabitable’
With the Sturgeon-Wu property still leaning, it has caused “ongoing stress…creating a nuisance and life/safety concerns,” the complaint says.
The Bay County Building Department has deemed all three homes “uninhabitable,” and the Bay County Code Enforcement considers Stienecker and Lawrence’s homes to be “unfit/unsafe”, according to the complaint.
County spokeswoman Valerie Sale confirmed to McClatchy News on April 11 that the properties were “deemed unsafe/unfit immediately after the storm.”
According to the suit, the Bay County Code Enforcement filed a complaint related to Stienecker and Lawrence’s properties. As a result, the county could levy fines against their homes or seek to have it demolished, the complaint says.
When asked about this, the county declined to comment further on the litigation, according to Sale.
Gilliland told McClatchy News the lawsuit is simply an “attempt to try to get this matter resolved and hold (Sturgeon and Wu) responsible for the damage caused by their fallen structure.”
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