AT&T Sued Over Alleged Damage From Fiber Optic Cable Installation

Fiber optic cable for high-speed internet is being installed all over North Texas.

Dozens of residents of one Denton County neighborhood have sued AT&T claiming negligence and even harassment after they said some of the work that began in 2021 caused extensive damage.

“It has been nothing but headaches,” said resident Lauren Sinno, who added standing water on her property is because AT&T fiber installers cut the underground water supply line in her yard.

The residents' lawsuit includes a photo of how existing underground utility lines should be located and marked in advance with flags to avoid mistakes.

“The subcontractor pulled a locate 30 days after the installation happened,” Sinno said.

Her Wynnwood Haven Estates neighborhood is served with water from a well by a small utility. Sinno said it does not have money to fix all the leaks in the neighborhood that the residents claim AT&T caused.

“AT&T ultimately is the one who needs to foot the bill because they’re standing at the top of the totem pole, directing all these events,” residents’ attorney Geoff Henley said.

The attorney said all work in the neighborhood should be repaired and redone properly.

The lawsuit also seeks extra payments for plaintiffs as an example on top of the cost of repairs.

The neighborhood is a peninsula in Lewisville Lake. It is an unincorporated area of Denton County with narrow streets, no sidewalks and drainage ditches for storm run-off. 

In several locations, including Sinno’s property, fiber utility junction boxes were installed in the drainage ditch, higher than the ditch had been before. 

“They brought in fill dirt compromising the drainage flow. The water has nowhere to go which then results in lots of puddling,” Sinno said.

Henley has about three dozen clients in the neighborhood who claim damages and he expects more will join the lawsuit against AT&T. 

“I can assure you this. The president of AT&T wouldn’t want someone going and digging in his yard,” Henley said.

Sinno said her complaints to the company resulted in harassment.

“When I brought it to their attention, they lied to me, they bullied me, I’ve had several engineers stalking my home,” she said.

An AT&T spokesperson offered the following statement.

“As we work to bring high-speed fiber internet to more communities, our goal is to minimize impact on residents as much as possible. We require our contractors to obtain proper permitting, follow applicable construction codes, and abide by rules governing rights-of-way and property easements. If construction-related issues do occur, we work to resolve and restore any impacts from our work. Whether large or small, when damages impact the public, that is not lost on us.

Additional 

• Broadly speaking, damages can occur for a number of reasons, from contractor error to locations for underground utilities not being marked accurately.
• These lawsuits were just filed, and we are reviewing the allegations."