Lumen Sues Engineering Consultant After Partial Miami Building Collapse

Lumen's CenturyTel Service group sued an engineering consulting company for breach of contract after a building it bought in Miami as its new gateway for area telecommunications services suffered a partial collapse, leading to $1.5 million in costs to retrofit the building structurally, said a complaint (docket 1:23-cv-253) in U.S. District Court in Colorado Friday. Lumen relied on Communications Engineering Consultant, Columbus, Ohio, for its assessment before making the purchase; the firm concluded the building had sufficient structural capacity for Lumen’s intended use, the complaint said. Lumen later discovered the building lacked the required structural capacity when a second-floor concrete slab partially collapsed during renovations, it said. Lumen seeks compensatory damages in an amount to be proved at trial and awards of legal costs and attorneys’ fees.