The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The widow of a firefighter killed in last year’s Kensington factory fire has sued the building’s owners for wrongful death and negligence, saying they ignored dangerous conditions that led to the inferno that left two firefighters dead.
Diane Neary said the owners knew that “over 60 vandals, vagrants, drug dealers, prostitutes, looters and other individuals” were illegally living in the old Thomas Buck hosiery factory at York and Jasper streets but did nothing to oust them, according to the lawsuit first filed Sept. 26 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Fire broke out in the blighted building on April 9, 2012, and fire Lt. Robert Neary and Daniel Sweeney died when a warehouse wall collapsed on them as they battled the flames.
Named in the 35-page complaint are Yechial Lichtenstein and Nahman Lichtenstein of Brooklyn, Toby Moskovits of Manhattan, and their companies, York Street Property Development, Heritage Equity Partners and YML Realty Inc.
At the time of the fire, the Lichtensteins and Moskovits were known as “New Yorkers who collect and neglect,” because they owned 31 properties in Philadelphia, 24 of which were tax-delinquent, according to Neary’s lawsuit. Besides owing more than $400,000 in back taxes and penalties, the trio also had racked up more than $10,000 in unpaid water bills for their properties, the lawsuit charges.
The city cited them three times between November 2011 and March 2012 for failing to secure the property and began sheriff’s sale proceedings in February 2012, according to the complaint.
Besides the city’s overtures, citizens and members of the New Kensington Community Development Corporation repeatedly contacted the owners to ask them to address the problems plaguing the property, according to the lawsuit.
Before the fire, Yechial Lichtenstein toured the property in an attempt to rent it and saw the dangerous conditions, including “holes from the floor through the roof as well as combustible materials ... (and) bedding and recently opened food containers” suggesting squatters lived there, according to the lawsuit.
Looters regularly stripped the five-story factory of copper wiring and other materials, creating dire fire risks in a structure that lacked a sprinkler system, the lawsuit claims.
“They deliberately ignored those dangers, thereby risking a catastrophe to the Kensington community as well as the firemen who responded to the fire call,” Neary’s attorneys Thomas W. Sheridan and Christopher D. Hinderliter wrote in the complaint.
Stephen A. Cozen, who represents the owners, and Neary’s attorneys, and Sheridan and Hinderliter couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
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The widow of one of two Philadelphia firefighters killed last year battling a warehouse blaze in Kensington has filed a wrongful-death suit against the owners of the building, contending that they persistently ignored dangerous conditions that led to the conflagration.
The owners, the suit contends, knew from 2008, when they took possession of the old Thomas Buck Hosiery factory at 1817 E. York St., to the day of the multi-alarm fire that more than 60 vandals, vagrants, prostitutes, and others were living there illegally.
Named as defendants were Yechial and Nahman Lichtenstein of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Toby Moskovits of New York City, and their companies. Steven A. Cozen, their lawyer, was unavailable for comment.
The Common Pleas Court lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Diane Neary, whose husband, Lt. Robert Neary, died alongside Firefighter Daniel Sweeney on April 9, 2012. A wall collapsed, burying both under bricks and other debris.
Her lawyer, Thomas Sheridan, said, “The family of Lt. Neary is looking forward to holding the property owners accountable for their horrific actions associated with the property, which placed the entire Kensington community in danger and resulted in the death of these two hero firefighters.”
The suit also alleges that the defendants were known for collecting and neglecting properties.
It said that at the time of the fire, the defendants owed more than $400,000 in property taxes and more than $10,000 in water bills for various properties in Philadelphia.
According to the suit, the defendants ignored numerous violation notices by the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
Yechial Lichtenstein toured the property before the fire in an effort to rent the building and saw dangerous conditions, including “holes from the floor through the roof as well as combustible materials,” according to the suit.
The suit alleges that he saw “bedding and recently opened food containers demonstrating that numerous people were illegally occupying” the building.