Concrete pool queen drowning in excuses

FOX 2 - Lynne Potoroka runs a concrete company with her husband, Walter. You've heard of companies that love their customers? Well, Lynne hates her customers.

At least the customers who sued her claimed her company took their money and didn't finish their jobs.

The backstory:

Ann sent a video to her granddaughter explaining why the little girl still couldn't come over to swim.

"So Riley, this is a picture of grandma and grandpa's backyard right now," she said. "There's where the diving board used to be," Ann said. "There's the pool - there's the back corner, there's where your toys used to be."

In early spring 2023, Ann and Pat Comisky paid to re-do the concrete deck around their Troy pool.  

"She came out, which is the wife. It's Walter and Lynne Potoroka," Pat said.

Walter Potoroka came out and broke up the concrete in early May.

They had already paid the company $4,000 and now Lynne wanted another check.

Wolchek: "She wanted it in her personal name?"

"'Lynne Potoroka for four thousand dollars,'" she said.

Then they waited as the pool season slipped away. Finally Lynne came out but they say, didn't really do anything.

"(I said) 'I thought you were putting the forms up?' She says 'No, no ... We probably, probably can do that on Monday,'" Pat said. "So I said, 'I'm going to wait for a week and you probably will be here? I've had a lot of probably from you.'"

It was getting ridiculous. Pat shared video of his still unfinished cement deck.

"This is my backyard," he said. "Here we are, it's July 12th."

Michigan has a super-short pool season.  It starts getting warm in June and it starts getting cold in September.

By mid-July it's hot.

Pat sued Lynne Potoroka and won a judgment for $2,885.

"They were supposed to pay within a month," Ann said.

"They didn't," Pat added.

Wolchek: "They've never contacted you?"

Both: "No."

Wolchek: "They've never called you."

"They won't answer phone calls," Ann said.

Wolchek:"They never said I'm sorry?"

"No," Ann said.

They're not the only ones - meet Greg, who says he also missed a whole pool season thanks to the Potorokas.

"I had sand and weeds back here for an entire summer," he said.

Greg had the same experience. He actually hired them in November, 2020, to have his pool concrete deck ready by the summer of 2021.

The Potorokas broke up the old concrete but he says they never poured the cement.

"She had a lot of excuses when she wasn't delivering," Greg said. "It was deer season, it was Covid, it was anything under the sun, it was a death in the family."

Greg sued as well - and won a $100,000 default judgment,  but he knew he'd never see that money so eventually settled on just having the Potorokas just pay them back the $10,000 he'd paid them upfront.

Then there's the Badalmenti family. Here's their pool that sat for an entire summer season waiting for concrete.

They sued, went to a bench trial earlier this year. The judge ordered the Potorokas to pay $12,000 for breach of contract.

Once again, part of the case involved the some checks written out to the company, and others written out to Lynne personally.

Then there's the case where a couple from Metamora sued and won a default judgment against Potoroka Concrete for $38,000 in 2015.

Guess what they sued about? A concrete job the Potorokas were supposed to have done around their pool.  

Court crops up with the concrete couple consistently.

In 2014, they were in bankruptcy court filing with more than a million dollars in debt.

They have been sued by the State of Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. In 2022, Potoroka Concrete was slapped with a $73,000 judgment.

And the United States government sued and won a default judgment against Potoroka Concrete and Lynne Potoroka in 2020 for "not paying employment and unemployment taxes."

It says "Defendant Potoroka LLC owes the United States the sum of $188,991.97 cents."

And get this - Wolchek is not even the first reporter to go after Lynne.
 
Local 4's 'Ruth to the Rescue' did a segment on her for allegedly writing non-sufficient fund checks more than 10 years ago.  

Ruth never caught up to Lynne in person - but you know Rob will.

It was time for Wolchek to ‘smoke-a’ Potoroka.

The other side:

"Hello there Lynne, Rob Wolchek from FOX 2 ..."

Let's see what the concrete queen has to say about some of these customers.

Wolchek: "Pat and Ann Comisky."

Lynne: "Really?"

Wolchek: "They have a judgement against you for $2,885. They want their money."

Lynne: "You're kidding, right?"

Wolchek: "No."

Lynne: "This is actually crap - $2,800. Do you know how much work we did there? We did the entire renovation."

Wolchek: "Yeah, I saw it. You tore all of their stuff out and they went all summer without being able to use their pool."

Lynne: "No, no, no. We do not pour the concrete until the pool is running."

But Rob shows the video Pat made, saying it was July 13th. You can see and hear the pool running.

Wolchek: "Okay, well regardless, they sued you and they have a judgment, and they want their money."

Lynne: "Only because I didn't show up. I didn't show up"

Wolchek: "Well, that's your problem, right?"

Lynne: "Yes, it was, it was, but they should have never gotten that."

Wolchek: "Okay, well then you still owe them $2885. Are you going to pay them?"

Lynne: "I guess I have to, don't I? And you know what? Actually I think it's crap."

Now Lynne Potoroka changes her story about court.

Lynne: "I did show up. It was in Zoom. I did a zoom meeting with them."

Wolchek: "Okay, well you lost."

Lynne: "No, I agreed to pay it. I didn't lose."

Wolchek: "Okay, you agreed to pay it, but did you pay it?"

Lynne: "No, I didn't ..."

Wolchek: "Okay, so."

Lynne: "Because I was so mad over it because the judge said, you know what, she is agreeing you don't have any, they didn't have any ... they weren't entitled to it. The judge told them that."

At this point Rob shows her the court judgement.

Wolchek: "Well, they're entitled to it, now they want their money."

Lynne: "Yeah, your making this a story that it isn't."

Next, the lawsuit that just wrapped up that Lynne lost. This judge's order and opinion is from late June.

Lynne: "I just got this this week from my attorney Art Garten"

Wolchek: "And what does it say?"

Lynne: "This week, this week. Judge's opinion, right. Judge's opinion."

Wolchek: "Okay, here is the judge's opinion. 'The court finds that the defendant breached the concrete contract.' That's you the defendant, right?"

Lynne: "You know what? You need to read the whole case. It's like this thick."

Wolchek: "I read the case. I read the case. I have it."

She then flips through Rob's papers.

Lynne: "The only reason you're here, you obviously know this lady. This one here. I guarantee you know this lady."

Wolchek: "What lady?"

Lynne: "Her."

Wolchek: "Who?"

Lynne: "Mrs. Cominsky."

Wolchek: "I've interviewed her."

Lynne: "Yeah, you've interviewed her. You know what? She is old, crabby, and nasty."

Wolchek: "She seemed pretty nice to me and you seem kind of crabby and nasty to be perfectly honest."

Lynne: "No, you pull up literally, you pull up and do this really?"

Back to the Badalamenti case that Rob was trying to talk to Lynne about. Potoroka Concrete was ordered to pay $12,000. He tried to ask Lynne why she asks her clients to write some of the checks in her personal name.

Wolchek: "They write a check for $2,500 to Potoroka Concrete ..."

Lynne: "I'm not talking to you about this. This is in court right now. I can not talk to you on this. We can't even talk about it. We literally just got ..."

Wolchek: "I believe the case just got settled."

Lynne: "No, but you know what? I don't feel that. I just got this, this week. That is the judge's opinion."

Wolchek: "Okay, well the judge is the law."

Lynne: "The judge is a ... it's an opinion. You really need to call my attorney on this, I can't talk about this one."

Wolchek: "It says right here, 'This resolves the last pending claim and closes the case, so the case is ...'"

Lynne: "It says right here, 'This opinion and order resolves this case.'"

Wolchek: "Yes, so the case is closed."

The case ended with Lynne's company found to be in breach of contract.

Wolchek: "And you got a guy named Gregory Hauck who you did the same thing."

Lynne: "That paid. Paid. We paid him."

Wolchek: "But they went a whole summer without having ..."

Lynne: "During Covid. Covid! It was during Covid. He had a pool that sat."

That's the point. It sat like that for a year.

Wolchek: "So Gregory Hauck, they had to sue you and they got a $100,000 judgement."

Lynne: "No, they didn't. They got $8,000."

Wolchek: "I'm looking at it right here and it says one hundred thousand, three ..."

Lynne: "This was during Covid, there was no courts open. You check this out too."

Wolchek: "So what is this, a fake document?"

Lynne: "Did you not look up the next one. How it was settled?"

Wolchek: "Yes. I spoke to Greg. He told me that he settled it. He still doesn't like you and thinks you're a terrible person."

Lynne: "I don't care if he thinks I'm a terrible person. Again we did all his rebuilding and then he didn't want to wait."

Now come the government cases dated 2022.

Wolchek: "What is this one? The State of Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency has a $73,000 judgment."

Lynne: "Listen, listen, I had an old company, 2010, that I opened, with a partnership that did not go. It was during the recession. We had all kinds of issues. Its old. This is old."

Wolchek: "Okay, this isn't old. This is a current judgment for $73,000."

Lynne: "They are going to keep putting it on until we settle it."

Wolchek: "So you are actually a little bit aware of this type of journalism, because 'Ruth to the Rescue' did a story on you too."

Lynne: "Yep and that's why ... yep, she did years and years and years ago."

Wolchek: "So you kind of know the drill. Why didn't you straighten up your act?"

Lynne: "Really? Straighten up my act? We do beautiful work."

Beautiful work - if you can get it. Lynne ... You're in the Hhhhhall of Shame!

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