Anchor: Taylor Petras
•7/16/2026
CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)—A Cape Coral couple is out tens of thousands of dollars after their seawall started falling apart less than two years after it was completed.
Javier Lopez, a Coast Guard veteran, and his wife, Jessica Rayneri, were ready for their next chapter of life in Cape Coral. They moved into their new home in the fall of 2025.
"Our plan was ultimately to build a home and move here, you know, be close to family, enjoy the weather, a boat," Rayneri said.
But the excitement didn't last long. According to a lawsuit filed by the couple in January, their seawall, which was built by WB Williamson Bros. in 2023, was failing “due to defective anchoring and holdbacks.”
The couple said the seawall began to crack and lean toward the water.
"Our builder was like, you need to move on this really quickly, because this could affect your foundation, because in a short amount of time, it moved like what, six inches? So we were panicked, we're like, ‘Oh my God,’" Rayneri said.
But the couple says that at the time, they got no help from WB Williamson Bros. This was despite their contract and the company's website offering a lifetime structural warranty, so they hired another company to make the repairs.
"We had to replace sprinklers, sod, and gas lines, because all of that area essentially had to be torn out," Rayneri said.
"I think we're going close to $80,000 or $90,000 between everything," Lopez said.
The money they planned to spend on a dock and boat is now tied up in repairs they believed would be covered.
"How good is a warranty if the company is not going to stand by it?" Rayneri said.
They’re not the only homeowners who have had issues with their seawall. WINK News found four other lawsuits filed against WB Williamson Bros. in Lee County since September 2025 for bad seawalls.
In an exclusive interview, WINK News sat down with the president of WB Williamson Bros., James Williamson. He says it had nothing to do with their work, but rather was an issue with their rebar manufacturer.
"We utilized a more expensive component in the construction of a limited batch of our seawalls," Williamson said. "As soon as our quality assurance team recognized that it didn't meet our standards, we took it out of our supply chain."
Williamson's attorney told WINK News that rebar from Commercial Metals Company, based in Texas, was used in about 50 seawalls built between 2022 and 2025. WINK News asked Williamson why they didn't take care of the repairs when it was brought to their attention.
"There was a question about whose responsibility it was. Since then, WB, regardless of who is ultimately responsible, is stepping forward and paying to resolve the issue while the matter works its way out through the courts," Williamson said.
Justin Patak with ZinnLaw represents Lopez and Rayneri. He argues WB Williamson Bros. cannot shift the blame to CMC.
"The contractor has to oversee everything; they can't say, ‘Okay, no, it was his fault or her fault,’” he said. “It's ‘No, you're in charge of your work product, your subcontractors, your material men.’"
Williamson told WINK News they are now working with impacted customers and paying for repairs. But for now, the waterfront lifestyle Lopez and Rayneri moved to Cape Coral for remains on hold.
"We shouldn't suffer because of that, you know. The right thing to do was to respond, resolve your customers' issues, and then deal with your issue with the manufacturer," Rayneri said.
The next scheduled court date in the couple's lawsuit is Aug. 4. Court records show WB Williamson Bros. settled in another lawsuit in April.
WINK News has contacted CMC for comment. Our team is currently waiting for a response.
