Two Legionnaires’ Patients File Lawsuits Against Employers, Death Toll Climbs to Six

A deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Harlem has now led to six deaths, up from four at last count, with a total of 111 infections.

The sixth death occurred earlier this month outside of New York City. Health officials say that the fifth fatality, which occurred in mid-August, was not tied to the epidemic until Aug. 18.

Now, two men—Duane Headley and Nunzio Quinto—are suing their employers for negligence after contracting the non-contagious illness, which is caused by inhaling infected water vapor; the current outbreak has been tied to 12 cooling towers on 10 buildings in an array of five ZIP codes—10027, 10030, 10035, 10037, and 10039.

City officials say that these towers have now been flushed of the disease, although they’ve also taken heat for their overall response to the threat, especially as reporting has revealed the decline of routine Legionnaires’ inspections in recent years.

Some of the cooling towers are located at city-owned buildings, including one that lies at the heart of the new lawsuits, NYC Health + Hospitals Harlem. However, the lawsuits center around private contractors overseeing construction sites at or around the West 137th Street and Lenox Avenue hospital.

Legionnaires’ disease, a serious form of pneumonia, has an average fatality rate of around 10 percent. The warm basins of cooling towers, if not properly bleached, can provide the perfect environment for Legionella bacteria to grow.

The two men were reportedly employed via intermediaries by separate construction firms, Skanska USA and Rising Sun Construction, respectively.

Quinto held a press conference with the Reverend Al Sharpton and the prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump on Aug. 20. Quinto described having “breathing problems” and “internal bleeding,” adding that he was down and out “for two weeks.”

”Nobody gave them any warning,” Crump said. “It’s preventable. Once you know, you have a duty to act.” Sharpton said that any other contractors who were “negligent” should come forward.

Both suits, which are being handled by the firm Weitz & Luxenberg, emphasize these points. “It was the duty of the Defendant and its servants, agents and/or employees to maintain the premises, including but not limited to the cooling towers, in a reasonably safe and suitable condition in good repair,” clauses in both suits read.

The suits then allege that Skanska USA and Rising Sun Construction “breached” said duty in various ways, namely by “failing” to “prevent, detect, and/or timely remediate the Legionella colonization of the water distribution and/or cooling systems at and around the subject construction site.”

This remediation would have involved “ventilating” and “treating” such “water distribution” systems for “microbiological contaminants” (such as Legionella), lawyers wrote. They also charge that the construction contractors should have provided “proper personal protective equipment and safety devices to workers at the site.”

Outside of NYC Health + Hospitals Harlem, other infected cooling towers were reportedly located at the following sites, according to the NYC Health Department: BRP Companies, Lafayette Development LLC (2239 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd,, 10037), BVK (215 W. 125th St., 10027), Commonwealth Local Development (301 W. 124th St., 10035), CUNY – City College Marshak Science Building (181 Convent Ave., 10031), Harlem Center Condo (317 Lenox Ave., 10030), NYC Economic Development Corporation (40 W. 137th St., 10037), NYC Health Department Central Harlem Sexual Health Clinic (2238 Fifth Ave., 10030), The New York Hotel Trades Council Harlem Health Center (133 Morningside Ave., 10027), and Wharton Properties (100 W. 125th St., 10027).

Three of the infected towers were located at the Wharton Properties building on West 125th St., which appears to house a Whole Foods supermarket in its ground-floor retail space.