Muszkatel v. 90 Church Street Ltd. Partnership

54 F. Supp. 3d 301, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149351
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedOctober 9, 2014
DocketCase Nos. 21-mc-102, 06-cv-05285
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 54 F. Supp. 3d 301 (Muszkatel v. 90 Church Street Ltd. Partnership) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Muszkatel v. 90 Church Street Ltd. Partnership, 54 F. Supp. 3d 301, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149351 (S.D.N.Y. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER AND OPINION DENYING IN PART AND GRANTING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT DISMISSING COMPLAINT

ALVIN K. HELLERSTEIN, District Judge.

In this action, Plaintiff Jerzy Muszkatel, a licensed asbestos abatement worker, asserts claims for common law negligence and violations of sections 200 and 241(6) of the New York Labor Law. Muszkatel’s claims are based upon injuries suffered after working in numerous buildings in the vicinity of the World Trade Center site in the weeks, months, and years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Muszkatel asserts his claims against various owners, managing agents, lessees, environmental consultants, and contractors (collectively, “Defendants”) that owned, managed or worked in the buildings.

The Defendants have moved for summary judgment to dismiss the claims against them. The owners, managing agents, and lessees moving for summary judgment are: Verizon New York, Inc., Boston Properties, Inc., 90 Church Street, L.P., Battery Park City Authority, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., WFP Tower B Co., L.P., WFP Tower D Co., L.P., Sakele Brothers L.L.C., and various entities I will designate as “BNY Mellon”1 (collectively, the “Owner Defendants”). The environmental consultants moving for summary judgment are: Ambient Group, Inc., Hill-mann Environmental Group, LLC, Weston Solutions, Inc. (collectively, the “Environmental Consultant Defendants”), and Indoor Environmental Technologies, Inc. The only general contractor moving for summary judgment is Structure Tone, Inc. (“Structure Tone”). The only subcontractor moving for summary judgment is Blackmon-Mooring Steamatic Catastrophe, Inc. (“BMS”). For the following reasons, the Defendants’ motions are granted in part and denied in part.

1. Background2

1 previously provided, in detail, the facts relevant to these motions in In re World Trade Center Lower Manhattan Disaster Site Litigation, 44 F.Supp.3d 409, No. 09-cv-680, 2014 WL 4446153 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 9, 2014). For this reason, familiarity with the facts is presumed and this opinion will describe only the facts relevant to my disposition of the issues presented by the motions before me.

A. 2 World Financial Center

2 World Financial Center is located directly west of the World Trade Center [306]*306site. On September 11, 2001, Brookfield Financial Properties L.P. (“Brookfield”) owned WFP Tower D Co. L.P., which, in turn, owned 2 World Financial Center and leased the building to Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (“Merrill Lynch”). See Aff. Daniel M. Kindbergh Supp. Merrill Lynch Mot. Summ. J. (“Kindbergh Aff”) ¶ 3. Battery Park City Authority (“BPCA”) was the ground lessor. See Decl. Philip Goldstein Supp. Merrill Lynch Mot. Summ. J. (“Goldstein Deck”), Exh. DD at 16:13-18. 2 World Financial Center sustained substantial damage to its eastern facade and a significant amount of dust and debris entered the building. See id., Exh. R. The “Winter Garden,” a glass-enclosed lobby connecting 2 World Financial Center and 3 World Financial Center, suffered severe structural damage including broken windows and demolished walls. See Deck Gregory J. Cannata Supp. Pis.’ Opp’n Defs.’ Mots. Summ. J. (“Cannata Deck”), Exh. 139.

Merrill Lynch retained Weston Solutions, Inc. (“Weston”) and GPS Environmental Consultants, Inc. (“GPS”) to test and analyze the dust and debris inside 2 World Financial Center. See Goldstein Deck, Exh. R, Exh. Y at 118:13-119:15. Beginning September 26, 2001, Weston conducted comprehensive testing for numerous potential air contaminants, including asbestos, fibrous glass, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds. See id., Exh. N, Exh. Q. After both GPS’s and Weston’s air testing revealed the presence of asbestos, both allegedly advised Merrill Lynch to implement asbestos-specific procedures. See id., Exh. R, Exh. W at 103:18-105:18. Weston, however, denies that it advised Merrill Lynch with respect to the asbestos abatement. See Deck Nicholas Kauffman Supp. Weston Mot. Summ. J. (“Kauffman Deck”), Exh. O ¶¶ 5-7. There is no evidence that Weston tested the pH level of the dust. See, e.g., Cannata Deck, Exh. 123. While Weston denies directly supervising the abatement workers or developing a safety protocol for the general abatement work at 2 World Financial Center, see id., Exh. O ¶¶ 5-7, it did create a remediation protocol and provided project monitoring for mold abatement conducted in the basement, see Kauffman Deck, Exh. O ¶8. Muszkatel also presents evidence that Weston oversaw “all phases” of the cleanup work at 2 World Financial Center. See Cannata Deck, Exh. 4 at 106:3-107:16.

Certain tenants at 2 World Financial Center retained Hillmann Environmental Group, LLC (“Hillmann”) as their environmental consultant. See Deck Salvatore J. Calabrese Supp. Hillmann Mot. Summ. J. (“Calabrese Deck”), Exh. C, ¶¶ 20-42. Hillmann did not have any agreement with Merrill Lynch nor did it perform any work for Merrill Lynch. See id., Exh. C ¶ 20. However, Hillmann did conduct environmental monitoring during and after the cleanup and conducted an asbestos survey for Brookfield in the retail space. See id., Exh. C ¶¶ 32, 43-46.

Merrill Lynch retained Pinnacle Environmental Corporation (“Pinnacle”) and Blackmon-Mooring Steamatic Catastrophe, Inc. (“BMS”) to conduct the cleanup work. See Goldstein Deck, Exh. P, Exh. R. The project began on September 24, 2001 and consisted of three phases: bulk cleanup, fine cleaning, and cleaning of the building’s HVAC system. See id., Exh. R. Pinnacle workers also conducted the mold abatement in the basement levels. See Kauffman Deck, Exh. O ¶ 8. Because initial environmental testing revealed asbestos levels above 1 %, Pinnacle implemented asbestos abatement procedures during the cleanup. See Goldstein Deck, Exh. P at 2. BMS initially performed work at 2 World Financial Center between October 18, 2001 and February 27, 2002. See Deck Frank [307]*307Keenan Supp. BMS Mot. Summ. J. (“Keenan Decl.”), Exhs. 12-13. BMS supervised Pinnacle workers for the fine cleaning phase. See Goldstein Decl., Exh. K, Exh. S at 35-36, Exh. FF at 27:12-16. Throughout the remediation, GPS and Weston provided continuous air monitoring and safety consulting. See id., Exh. I, Exh. R, Exh. Y at 118:12-119:3, 194:11-23.

On October 19, 2001, Indoor Environmental Technologies, Inc. (“IET”) conducted a single post-cleanup testing of the HVAC system for asbestos, lead, and microbial contamination. See Aff. John Stanley Supp. IET Mot. Summ. J. (“Stanley Aff.”) ¶ 4. Beginning in February 2002, IET provided limited consulting services and project management for environmental testing of the HVAC system at 2 World Financial Center. See id., Exh. B, Exh. D. IET presents evidence that it neither developed safety protocols for the abatement work performed by Pinnacle nor directly supervised Muszkatel’s work. See id. ¶¶ 14-15.

Muszkatel, a member of Local 78 and licensed asbestos handler, was hired by Pinnacle to participate in the bulk and fine cleaning phases of the project. See Can-nata Decl., Exh. 64 at 32:7-34:12, 125:18-126:13. He worked at 2 World Financial Center between November 14, 2001 and November 27, 2001. See Goldstein Decl., Exh. B. Both Pinnacle and BMS supervised Muszkatel’s work. See id., Exh. R, Exh.

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Bluebook (online)
54 F. Supp. 3d 301, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/muszkatel-v-90-church-street-ltd-partnership-nysd-2014.