Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro Retained in Construction Worker Death Case
The law offices of Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro have been retained by the family of Luoro Ortega, a construction worker who was crushed to death on Wednesday, March 12th at a Brooklyn work site.
According to an article in the Daily News, Mr. Ortega, 30, of Queens was literally buried alive in the NY construction accident when an excavation caused a wall to collapse on him. William Lattarulo, 62, is owner of both the house whose wall collapsed and the lot next door where construction was occurring when the construction accident occurred. Mr. Lattarulo was cited for violating multiple building codes, including working with an expired building permit, when he hired Ortega and others to excavate under the existing home in preparation for the building of a commercial property next door.
Luttarulo’s engineer, Lewis Sanchez of Sanchez Associates had lost the privilege to perform engineering jobs in the city of New York a week earlier, due to ‘questionable practices’. Sanchez had also been previously penalized when the special enforcement team of the Buildings Department found that he was allowing his business partner to use his professional stamp to submit building applications. His partner surrendered his privileges in 2002.
The existing structure was home to six tenants who were left shaken when a wall collapsed as a result of the unstable conditions created by the excavation. Michael Delairo, 36 years old, and one of the six tenants said both he and other tenants had complained to Lattarulo, remarking that the home seemed ‘unstable’, indicating that Lattarulo didn’t seem to care, according to the News story. Delairo and the other tenants watched daily as two workers went under the foundation of their rental home taking out piles of dirt at a time. Another tenant, Joan Fresse, 44, frantically ran to get her mother out of the house when she heard the wall collapsing, but the front door would not open. Fresse describes being ‘terrified’ following the new york construction accidents.
Lattarulo blames recent rain for the collapse, but Patricia Lancaster, Buildings Commissioner reported that her office is in discussions with Charles Hynes of the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office regarding possible criminal charges, including reckless endangerment, for both Sanchez and Lattarulo the owner of the home.
Whether you are a construction worker, a member of the public, or a tenant, you are entitled to be free of another’s negligence that might harm you. If you or a loved one has been injured by another’s negligence, please call the preeminent construction accident injury attorneys at Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro, L.L.P., because we would like to meet with you. Call our office today at 212-986-7353 to set up an appointment to discuss your case.
