Widow sues warehouse owners in 2012 Kensington blaze

Source: The Philadelphia InquirerOct.儲存 03--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 foself storage 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.vclark@phillynews.com215-854-5717Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Philadelphia Inquirer Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at .philly.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷利倉