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| Lawsuit: MTA bus drivers' cancers caused by exhaust fumes @ Yukon Depot (298090) | |||
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Lawsuit: MTA bus drivers' cancers caused by exhaust fumes @ Yukon Depot |
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Posted by Gold_12th on Tue Sep 23 01:56:32 2014 A potential killer lurked inside the New York City Transit bus depot on Yukon Avenue, New Springville, alleges a lawsuit.Victor Vernaci and Frank Grosso, two retired Transit employees, have each been diagnosed with cancer, which, their civil complaint contends, was caused by their exposure to diesel exhaust particles and fumes spewed by buses idling inside the massive depot. Vernaci, 73, of Huguenot, and Grosso, a New Jersey resident, have sued Queens Structure Corp., the Southhampton, L.I-based company they allege built the depot. Queens Structure failed to install an adequate ventilation system, even though it should have known of the harmful effects of exposure to diesel exhaust particles, the complaint contends. "You had an enclosed depot with virtually no ventilation," said John C. Dearie, the plaintiffs' Manhattan-based lawyer. "There may have been hundreds and hundreds of men and women that were exposed and injured." The suit, recently filed in state Supreme Court, St. George, seeks unspecified monetary damages solely from Queens Structure. Dearie said his clients could not directly sue Transit for liability, since it was their employer. Online records of the New York Department of State show Queens Structure was dissolved in April 2009, and there is no current telephone listing for the company. However, Dearie said Queens Structure was likely required to have extensive insurance coverage in effect when it built the depot, which would apply in this case. According to the complaint, Vernaci drove buses for Transit from June 1969 through July 1991. He worked at the Yukon Depot from 1981, the year it opened, through 1991, said the complaint. Grosso, who public records indicate is about 70, worked as a bus operator and shifter from 1972 through 1988. Due to the difficulty in starting diesel-engines in cold weather, it was "common practice" to let "scores" of buses idle "for hours at a time" inside the depot before beginning their morning routes, the complaint alleges. The exhaust spewed dense clouds of grayish-black smoke exposing drivers, shifters and other personnel to "excessively high levels" of diesel exhaust and fumes, alleges the complaint. Exposure to those exhaust particles can have harmful effects, including causing cancer, the complaint contends. Vernaci alleges he was diagnosed with bladder cancer in May of this year. Gross was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2011, said the complaint. The plaintiffs allege the ventilating system failed to meet air-quality standards necessary to eliminate or control the "excessive concentrations" of diesel exhaust particles created by the exhaust fumes. Under the statute of limitations, Dearie said his clients had to file their lawsuits within three years of their cancer diagnosis. http://www.silive.com/westshore/index.ssf/2014/09/lawsuit_exhaust_fumes_at_yukon.html#incart_m-rpt-1 |
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