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Subletters Who Sustained "Scratches" In East Village Explosion Sue For $40 Million
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 7, 2015
Modified Apr 7, 2015
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 7, 2015
Modified Apr 7, 2015
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Two subletters who lived two doors down from the building that exploded on Second Avenue last month have sued Con Ed, the building's landlord, and Sushi Park restaurant for $20 million apiece in punitive damages.
According to a lawsuit filed in Bronx Supreme Court, 23-year-old Lucie Bauermeister and 26-year-old Anna Ramotowska were "severely injured, both physically and mentally," by the blast that killed two men and injured dozens more.
Bauermeister and Ramotowska lived in 129 Second Avenue, and told FOX5 they were getting dressed for the gym when they heard an explosion that felt like an "earthquake." The roommates grabbed some personal belongings and fled.
"Obviously the thoughts are with the people in the building, anyone that's actually been affected. That's I think is the biggest issue," Bauermeister told the FOX reporter. "All we lost is kind of our house at this point, we think. We have our dog, we have our immediate belongings."
Their building sustained some smoke damage, and was reopened to tenants on March 28, the Post reports. Ramotowska told the tabloid that she suffered "like, five or six scratches" on her hand from flying glass, adding, "It's nothing deep." Both women told the paper that they are seeking psychiatric help to cope with mental "trauma" they sustained.
“You don’t really think that you have trauma and that you’re affected by it...but you have trauma,” Ramotowska said.
Asked to square his clients' appearance on TV with their legal claims, attorney Robert Vilensky told Gothamist, "Their physical injuries are minor but any person who goes through an event like this has some fear later on. And having nightmares and fear doesn't preclude giving interviews or getting on with your life."
Vilensky's suit claims that Con Ed "negligently maintained" and "had…notice of a dangerous and defective condition" in the gas lines in and around 121 Second Avenue, the building that housed Sushi Park and is believed to be where the explosion originated. The complaint alleges that the other defendants, including the landlord, Maria Hrynenko, "illegally placed certain gas hook ups and attachments to the gas mains and lines at the premises."
Con Ed and the owner of Sushi Park have blamed Hrynenko for the explosion; Hrynenko's former attorney denied that his client was responsible (she has since hired a new one).
In addition to the $40 million in punitive damages, the lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount of compensatory damages.
The funeral for one of the men killed in the explosion, 23-year-old Nicholas Figueroa, was held earlier today on the Upper West Side.
Tagged
civil suits
east village
east village explosion
maria hrynenko
Second Avenue
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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