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 because special permits are required to build within Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve as well as the location near cultural resources, smelting spawning, feeder bluffs and the Washington Natural Heritage Program.

The Eelkemas sent a supplemental demand letter in July 2024 for $903,000.

The trucking company filed a response in superior court on Aug. 6 that denied some of the allegations, arguing that the statute of limitations ran out before the lawsuit was filed and that the Eelkemas may have failed to mitigate some of the damages.

In 2022, the Washington State Patrol reported that Ranbir Singhnahal, a 53-year-old Canadian, was driving a semi north on Highway 20 and failed to maneuver a curve, causing the truck to tip onto its side and slide through a guardrail into the building perched on the side of the road.

The truck and the building then caught fire. Nobody was inside the building at the time, and two passersby pulled the driver from the truck. He was transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries.

After the crash, staff at Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve advocated for the reconstruction of the well-known red brick building on the north side of Penn Cove. Reserve trust board members wrote in a statement that the building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, also has historic value for its association with commercial enterprises that established a stable economic foundation for early European-American settlers in the area.

The original wooden part of the structure was built in 1905, and the brick portion was added in 1945.

In 1945, it was purchased by the Trumbull family, who operated the store until the mid-1950s. The building has changed hands and housed a variety of businesses since then, including an antique store. The Eelkemas purchased the building in 2001 and opened Penn Cover Pottery, which offered works by local artists.

The building was awarded Ebey’s Forever grants in 2013 and 2019 to replace the roof, repaint the brick of the exterior masonry walls and repair the brick chimney.

The lawsuit states that the attorney representing the trucking company failed to respond to the supplemental demand letter, which lead to the filing of the lawsuit.

On Aug. 6, Island County Superior Court Judge Christon Skinner approved the Eelkema’s ex parte order for default.

The Eelkemas are represented by T. Todd Egland and Sara Frase of the Bellingham firm CSD Attorneys of Law. The trucking company is represented by Joseph Hugan of Scheer Law PPLC.