The couple who owned the historic Penn Cove Pottery building in the San de Fuca area of Whidbey Island filed a lawsuit against a trucking company over a crash that largely destroyed the structure on June 19, 2022.

Attorneys representing Steve and Mary Beth Eelkema filed the complaint for damages against Canada-based Khalis Transport Inc. in Island County Superior Court on Aug. 5.

The lawsuit states that the company’s insurance company appraised the building at $975,000 but that the figure doesn’t take into account the lost inventory, the cost of debris removal, the loss of business income or the real cost of returning the building to its original state.

The document states that the cost of either repairing or demolishing and rebuilding the structure will be complicated and expensive bec

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