Osage Plumbing LLC v. Robert Trojanowski
What's This Case About?
Let’s be honest: nobody expects their backyard pool renovation to end in a courtroom drama. But here we are, in Delaware County, Oklahoma, where a plumbing company is trying to foreclose on a house—yes, foreclose—because a couple allegedly stiffed them for $3,520. That’s not a typo. Three thousand five hundred and twenty bucks. For connecting a gas line to a pool heater. This isn’t Empire or Succession—this is Poolgate, and the stakes are shockingly low, yet the legal artillery being wheeled out is absolutely wild.
Meet Robert and Wendy Trojanowski, a married couple who live on Lost Cove Road in Grove, Oklahoma, on a lot called Patricia Island Estates, PH VI, Lot 22—if you’re into real estate porn, that’s the equivalent of their LinkedIn headline. They wanted a backyard upgrade. A little oasis. A place to sip sweet tea and pretend they’re not in Oklahoma. So, like any rational homeowners with dreams of summer lounging, they hired a general contractor named Chuck Williamson to build a swimming pool and spruce up the yard. Sounds simple enough. But as we all know, the devil—and in this case, the gas piping—is in the details.
Enter Osage Plumbing LLC, a Skiatook-based company that, despite its name, apparently also does gas lines. On January 28, 2025, Chuck Williamson (the general contractor) hired Osage Plumbing to install a gas line from the meter to the pool heater. This wasn’t just twisting a few pipes together and calling it a day. According to the invoice, things got complicated. The job included pulling a permit (because, yes, even gas lines need paperwork), installing new risers, connecting the piping, and—plot twist—dealing with the City of Grove over someone else’s botched underground gas installation. Oh, and replacing an incorrect riser. And insulating the correct piping from the incorrect piping that had already been installed by a licensed plumber and inspected by the city. Let that sink in: the city signed off on bad work, and now Osage Plumbing is the one stuck cleaning up the mess. The invoice even lists “Dealing with city of Grove on phone do to [sic] Incorrect installation” as a line item. That’s not just plumbing—that’s emotional labor.
The total? $3,520. Due upon receipt. And according to Osage Plumbing, they did the work, the Trojanowskis got the benefit of it (their pool heater now presumably fires up without blowing the neighborhood into Arkansas), but nobody paid. Not Chuck Williamson. Not the Trojanowskis. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Osage Plumbing says they made demands. They got nothing. So, like a true Oklahoma subcontractor with legal backing, they did what any self-respecting lien-holder would do: they filed a mechanic’s lien on March 18, 2025—just under the 90-day deadline required by Oklahoma law—and then sued to foreclose on the Trojanowskis’ property. That’s right. They want the court to sell the house (or at least order the process started) to recover their $3,520.
Now, let’s talk about what a mechanic’s lien actually is, because it sounds like something out of a 19th-century Dickens novel. In plain English: if you’re a contractor or subcontractor who does work on someone’s property and you don’t get paid, Oklahoma law lets you slap a legal claim on that property—like a financial Post-it note that says “Someone owes me money for fixing your stuff.” And if they still don’t pay? You can ask the court to force a sale of the property to get your cash. It’s a powerful tool, designed to protect little guys from getting screwed by non-paying homeowners or shady contractors. But usually, this happens in cases involving tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars—not when the dispute could be settled with a single maxed-out credit card.
Osage Plumbing isn’t asking for punitive damages. They’re not demanding Chuck Williamson be publicly shamed on TikTok. They just want their $3,520, plus interest, attorney fees, and the costs of the lawsuit. They also want the court to officially declare their lien valid and force a sheriff’s sale of the property if necessary. The surplus money, if any, would go to the Trojanowskis or whoever else claims an interest. But here’s the kicker: according to the filing, there are no other liens on the property. No mortgage. No second mortgage. Nothing. Which either means the Trojanowskis own their home outright—which is impressive—or this paperwork is missing something. Either way, the idea that a $3,520 debt could legally threaten the ownership of an entire house is… well, it’s the kind of thing that makes you want to check your own plumbing invoices.
So what’s really going on here? Was Chuck Williamson the middleman who vanished like a magician after the trick? Did the Trojanowskis think they were only paying him, not realizing subcontractors have rights too? Or did someone drop the ball on communication? The filing doesn’t say the Trojanowskis refused to pay—they just say nobody paid, and the homeowners enjoyed the benefit. That’s the legal hook: “unjust enrichment.” You can’t enjoy a heated pool and pretend the gas line magically appeared.
Now, $3,520—is that a lot? In the grand scheme of home renovations? Not really. A high-end pool heater alone can cost twice that. But for a subcontractor, especially a small LLC, that’s real money. It’s payroll. It’s equipment. It’s the difference between staying in business and having to lay someone off. So while it feels a little nuclear to go full foreclosure mode over this sum, you can’t blame Osage Plumbing for trying to protect themselves. They did the work. They followed the rules. They filed the lien on time. They’re playing by the legal playbook.
But come on. Foreclosing on a house over this? It’s like using a flamethrower to light a birthday candle. The most absurd part isn’t the amount—it’s the escalation. If Chuck Williamson took the Trojanowskis’ money and ghosted, that’s on him. If the Trojanowskis thought they were only paying the general contractor and didn’t realize subcontractors could come after them, that’s a communication failure, not a crime. And if Osage Plumbing had just sent a strongly worded email or threatened small claims court, this might’ve been settled over a Zoom call. Instead, we’re in District Court for Delaware County, Oklahoma, with attorneys, liens, and the very real possibility that a family could lose their home over a gas line hookup.
We’re rooting for common sense. We’re rooting for someone—Chuck, Wendy, Robert, Buffy from Osage Plumbing, someone—to pick up the phone and say, “Look, this got out of hand. Let’s fix it.” Because at the end of the day, this isn’t about greed or betrayal. It’s about a pool heater that works, a bill that didn’t get paid, and a legal system that sometimes forgets the difference between justice and overkill. And if the Trojanowskis do lose their house over this? The real crime won’t be the unpaid invoice—it’ll be that Oklahoma’s lien laws turned a backyard upgrade into a real estate horror story. We’re entertainers, not lawyers—but even we know that’s just bad plumbing.
Case Overview
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Osage Plumbing LLC
business
Rep: Gina Carrigan St. Clair, OBA #15979, Carrigan Law Office
- Robert Trojanowski individual
- Wendy Trojanowski individual
| # | Cause of Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foreclosure of Lien | Plaintiff seeks to foreclose a mechanic's lien on the defendants' property for unpaid work and materials |