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Under fire from the city to fix a broken septic system spewing sewage into Johnson Creek, the out-of-state owners of a dilapidated Lents apartment complex are blaming the company they hired to inspect it.
That company, Alpha Environmental Services, says the owners simply didn’t want to pay for a complete inspection that would have caught the impending failure.
The leak was discovered by renters, who reported the stench to city officials in 2021. Inspectors later condemned the property, 6402 SE 103rd Ave. The dispute was was featured in WW last year after tenants sued the property’s owners.
Now, one of those defendants, Eric Matson as well as two holding companies have turned around and sued Alpha Environmental Services, which they say gave the septic system a passing grade just two months before city inspectors concluded the system had failed.
“The septic tank appears to be serviceable, and Alpha recommends no repairs at this time,” according to the September 2021 inspection report, which was included alongside the legal complaint, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on May 9. City inspectors arrived in November.
Alpha was negligent for “failing to properly inspect the drain field,” among other errors, according to the complaint.
Matthew Micheletty, one of Alpha’s owners, says Matson is only telling part of the story. Alpha didn’t inspect the drain field, which cleanses and disposes of sewage after it’s filtered through the tank, because the property’s owners didn’t want to pay for it.
“They just wanted to do the bare minimum,” he says. “In 99 out of 100 cases, we do a drain field inspection.” The service costs only a few thousand dollars.
Nicholas Drum, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit, disputes that characterization, telling WW his clients didn’t know the extra inspection was necessary.
Regardless, it would have been money well spent. Matson and his co-investors dumped $180,000 into the property, which is now worthless, they claim, after the city ordered it vacated and unwanted tenants moved in.
The legal complaint outlines a dim view of the property’s future prospects. “From November through the present, there have been no less than five unauthorized fires at the property which, on information and belief, were all started by unauthorized occupants who were using the property as a dwelling,” it says.
The building now needs to be torn down, according to the lawsuit, which is demanding $405,773 to recoup Matson and Equity First’s investment. The property remains vacant. The city put it up for auction in April in a futile attempt to recoup $160,000 in unpaid liens, but no buyers were interested.