Pavon, et als v. 19th Street Associates, LLC, 17 Misc.3d 1125(A), 851 N.Y.S.2d 72 (Table) N.Y. Sup., 2007.

This was a complex New York City building chemical explosion case which was ordered coordinated by the Litigation Coordinating Panel as it was determined that there were common technical and factual issues of causation.

Plaintiffs sought to recover for personal injuries arising from an April 25, 2002 explosion that gutted a Chelsea building and sent fears of terrorism rippling throughout New York City when two employees of Kaltech Industries Group, a sign manufacturing company on West 19th Street, transferred chemicals from smaller drums into a larger one for disposal. More than 40 people were injured. Our client had worked for Kaltech and sustained severe burns to parts of his body as a result of the explosion. Defendants moved for Summary Judgment dismissing plaintiffs' complaint, arguing that under a lease rider, tenant Kaltech was responsible for insuring the safe use of chemicals on the premises absolving defendants of liability to plaintiffs.

On November 8, 2007, the Honorable Judge Shirley Werner-Kornreich rendered a decision in favor of the plaintiffs, defeating defendants' motions for summary judgment, in ruling that there was evidence in the record that defendants knew of the chemical use and concluding that it was a question of fact as to whether it was sufficiently hazardous that defendants should have taken steps to protect third persons.

The case was reported on and published in the New York Law Journal. On February 28, 2008, the case was successfully negotiated and resolved in the plaintiff's personal injury case for $1,375,000 at Mediation. Richard M. Winograd, Esq. and Gary R. Novins, Esq. were co-counselors for the Plaintiff.