RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — A tenant facing a March eviction has sued the owner/operator of her luxury apartment complex who is forcing tenants to vacate so they can begin extensive renovations to remediate water and mold problems.

Sorrentino v. ASN Roosevelt Center LLC d/b/a Archstone Westbury, No. Unavailable (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Nassau Cty.).

Andrea Sorrentino charges in a Nov. 28 complaint filed in Nassau County Supreme Court that the owners of the Archstone Westbury complex are to blame for illnesses and property damage suffered by her and other residents.

Sorrentino filed on behalf of herself and other potential class members in the 21-building complex which, she says, was built and is maintained by defendant ASN Roosevelt Center LLC, doing business as Archstone Westbury.

Sorrentino says she and other residents were notified in November that the landlord was terminating all leases and that every building in the complex would have to be vacated to allow for extensive remediation of water and mold damage.

The notice also said that Archstone Westbury is still investigating the cause of mold intrusion between interior and exterior wall surfaces, but believes the problem to have been caused by “a combination off several possible factors involving the construction, design, and the products used to build the Westbury complex.”

Sorrentino charges that she and her neighbors “have lived in an unsafe environment, exposed to hazardous mold, and have suffered and incurred, and will continue to incur, significant property damage and other losses as a result of the mold infestation of their apartment buildings and the precipitous termination of their leases.”

The plaintiff also alleges that she and others have experienced unspecified illnesses attributable to mold exposure, and quotes from a recent newspaper story in which the wife of a New York Jets football player said she and her children developed coughs after moving to the complex. That family moved out in August, according to the Newsday article.


Sorrentino charges ASN Roosevelt Center with negligence, breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, breach of implied warranty of habitability and unjust enrichment.

She is seeking compensatory damages and medical monitoring costs, as well as litigation expenses and a constructive trust for past and future rents and deposits.

Richard W. Cohen, Jeanne D’Esposito and Scott V. Papp of Lowey Dannenberg Bemporad Selinger & Cohen in White Plains, N.Y., and Mark Manus of Lipsig Shapey Manus & Moverman in New York are counsel for Sorrentino.

http://www.harrismartin.com/article_detail.cfm?articleid=9221
 
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