Waffle House grease seeped onto neighbor's property, lawsuit says

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ANNISTON, Ala. – Grease and sewage from a nearby Waffle House caused thousands of dollars in damage when it seeped onto an Alabama man's property, he said in a lawsuit.

Mack Crook Jr. of Anniston is seeking $800,000 from Norcross, Georgia-based Waffle House Inc.

At issue is a Waffle House in Anniston that's adjacent to Crook's property.

The restaurant's "grease interceptor" has continuously leaked grease and contaminated fluid into the ground, Crook maintains in the lawsuit.

"The combination of grease and sewage has over time seeped onto and under the foundation of the Plaintiff's building, causing physical damage to the Plaintiff's property and loss of use and enjoyment of the property," the lawsuit states.

Waffle House is "investigating the claims stated in the complaint," spokeswoman Kelly Thrasher-Bruner said in an email Tuesday. "We will respond through the court system."

In court filings, the company's lawyers deny that its grease trap leaked as the lawsuit alleges.

Waffle House also denies that grease and sewage damaged the building, and is demanding proof of that happening, its lawyers wrote in the court documents.

Crook filed his lawsuit in Calhoun County in Alabama earlier this month, and Waffle House is seeking to have the case transferred to the federal court system.

Anniston is about 60 miles east of Birmingham.