Plumbing Firm to Suspend Work Pending Trial

Officers of All Plumbing Services Inc. in Sun Valley agreed Thursday to stay out of the plumbing business pending trial of a civil suit accusing them of fraudulently selling unnecessary plumbing repairs.

The agreement by James Donald Tubbs, president; his brother, William Ray Tubbs, vice president, and Richard Fuglsby, a salesman and plumber, made it unnecessary to hold a hearing scheduled Thursday before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Irving Shimer.

The case is one of several filed this year by Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner’s office in a crackdown on firms that allegedly bilked dozens of elderly residents out of thousands of dollars for unnecessary or fabricated household plumbing repairs.

Criminal charges also have been filed against the three men, who admitted no wrongdoing in agreeing to the preliminary injunction approved by Shimer.

Under the order, they cannot manage or operate their own company or any other licensed plumbing firm, are limited in collecting money from former customers, must provide a list of all pending projects to the Contractors’ State Licensing Board and cannot misrepresent to any customers that specific repairs are needed when they are not or that leaks their plumbers may have caused occurred naturally.

The men and their employees are also banned from “taking any action which results in the causing or exacerbation of plumbing leaks or defects” in customers’ homes or claiming that their excessive charges are customary and reasonable for plumbing repairs.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas A. Papageorge has accused All Plumbing and other companies of doing such things as breaking pipes and spilling water under a house to make the resident believe he had a major drainage problem.

The civil suit against All Plumbing, 10723 Sherman Way, also seeks thousands of dollars in civil penalties and restitution of money collected from customers for phony or unnecessary repairs.