NEW YORK — Several tenants who lost their homes a partial building collapse in the Bronx on December 11, 2023 have filed a lawsuit against the landlord, contractors and the city.
Among those involved in the lawsuit are the Department of Buildings, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Koenigsberg Engineering and Arsh Landmark General Construction.
Tenants are seeking $10 million in damages after the partial collapse of the building in the Bronx
The tenants are asking a Bronx County Supreme Court jury to award them “not less than $10 million” in damages.
“My clients deserve to be healed because of the value of the items and because of the emotional distress,” attorney Darius Marzec said. “Some of them are older people, retirees. They can’t help but cry and be very sad.”
The lawsuit accuses city agencies of being “negligent in enforcing building codes… despite more than 133 HPD violations.” They say 58 of these violations, almost half, were classified as “immediately dangerous.”
It also says The landlord has done nothing to solve the problems.
Earlier this year, we reported that the DOB blamed the engineer for mislabeling a crucial load-bearing column as decorative, so that when the workers started chipping away at bricks, the entire corner collapsed like a game of Jenga.
In November, the agency also said the contractor should have pointed out the engineer’s mistake from the start.
The city’s legal department told CBS News New York: “We will review the complaint and respond in the lawsuit.” The engineer and contractor said “no comment.” The landlords did not answer our messages.
The tenants’ attorney expects the defendants to respond in January.
‘In the end I lost everything’
One family involved in the lawsuit told CBS News New York’s Lisa Rozner that their cat died in the disaster, and afterward they were re-traumatized by looters And navigating the shelter system.
“I actually lost everything, including one of my pets… His name was Ninja,” said a tenant named Ivan.
He said that when the corner wall of 1915 Billingsley Terrace crumbled, you could see his bed on the top floor.
“We moved from the shelter a few months ago,” Ivan said. “I have two jobs.”
Ivan said he had lived in the building for decades.
“A lot of things that we’ve lost, quite frankly, can’t be replaced, can’t be saved. It’s very difficult,” he said.
Lisa Rozner
