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SANDY — The owners of a small business in Sandy say they're being forced to shut down because of an accident that wasn't even their fault.
An accidental water line break two years ago caused more than $30,000 in damage to Bella Citta Gelato and Café. Though contractor who made the mistake acknowledges fault, its insurance provider is only offering to pay about half that.
Customers and friends of Bella Citta Gelato are trying to send the insurance company a message: pay up.
It all started with a flood almost two years ago. Store owner Rachel Bartnicki says a contractor was putting in a cellular tower when a water line broke.
"There was this much mud," Barnicki said, holding up her fingers to show a couple of inches. "There were rocks everywhere. It was a wreck."
Michelle Palache was the manager that night, but now she says she's out of a job. Expenses in repairing the cafe have pushed owners to cut back.
"So now I'm a laid off single mom because big insurance doesn't want to pay what (Barnicki's) owed," Palache said.
That amount, Bartnicki says, should be around $33,000 — which is what the contractors insurance company, Auto-Owners Insurance, said it expected to approve.
After those repairs were made, Bartnicki says the company offered her about half that amount. Now she's been caught in a legal battle ever since.
"All I wanted to do was sell gelato and make people happy," Bartnicki said.
Wednesday, customers gathered to showing their support for the cafe. Nicole Bangerter said, "We thought, ‘Oh, well this will surely get taken care of. This isn't Rachel's issue. It's clearly damage by some other party."
Still, Bartnicki says her cafe will close down on Friday, and it could stay that way if she loses her battle with the insurance company in court.
"I am choosing not to enable these people to do this to me or anybody else," Bartnicki said. When KSL News talked to Auto-Owners Insurance representatives Wednesday, they said they would look into the matter.
We also talked with someone at Four Seasons Telecommunications. He simply said to talk to the insurance company and then hung up the phone.
Email: manderson@ksl.com
