(The Center Square) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a $17 million lawsuit Tuesday against a northern Ohio company that dates back six decades.
The lawsuit says the United States Gypsum Co., on Sandusky Bay, failed to maintain underground mines that caused dangerous sinkholes near State Route 2, costing the Ohio Department of Transportation $16.8 million to stabilize the road to prevent its collapse.
“U.S. Gypsum’s failure to uphold their responsibility has put Ohio’s taxpayers in a multimillion-dollar hole,” Yost said. “We’re holding them accountable for the money it took to fill it and keep State Route 2 from crumbling.”
Yost says the case dates back to 1965 when the company sold land to the Transportation Department to build State Route 2 above its underground gypsum mines. The agreement required the company to maintain the integrity to ensure the road’s stability and safety.
Yost says the company filed a Quit Claim Deed in 1977 to withdraw that commitment, and he says the company failed to notify the state or get its approval.
Since the road was built, it has grown into a major highway for people traveling to Marblehead, Kelley’s Island and Cedar Point – all major tourist destinations near Lake Erie.
Yost said the company continued discussions with the Transportation Department about possible earth movement that resulted in sinkholes, but in the early 2000s filed paperwork to again stop monitoring the highway.
The company continues to operate a construction-materials business and a factory in Ottawa Company.
In 2013, growing concerns about the road’s potential collapse led the state to move forward with a $20 million project to stabilize the mines near the highway by injecting grout into the flooded underground gypsum tunnels.
