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Posted: Tuesday, 24 July 2007 9:45AM
Woman Sues Con Ed Over Pipe Explosion
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MELVILLE, N.Y. -- A woman whose sister died in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center has sued Consolidated Edison, claiming the utility failed to properly maintain a steam pipe that exploded last week outside the office where she works as a legal secretary.
"I thought a building was going to collapse,'' said Francine Dorf, 52, who was in a building on East 42nd Street when the pipe exploded, sending a geyser of steam, mud and asbestos-tainted debris over the neighborhood just south of Grand Central Terminal.
Dorf's sister, Maria La Vache, was an employee of insurer Marsh & McLennan and was on the 99th floor of the north tower when it collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001. La Vache's body was never recovered.
The lawsuit filed Monday seeks unspecified damages. Dorf's attorney, Kenneth Mollins, said the suit is intended to force Con Ed to improve maintenance of its infrastructure. "There needs to be accountability,'' he said.
He said his client suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder -- what he called "a legacy of fear'' from Sept. 11.
Dorf, who lives in Brooklyn, said she called her brother and mother to say goodbye on Wednesday after the blast.
"I can't sleep, I can't eat. If I lay down I can see the smoke,'' she said. "And I think of my sister over and over again. What she must have went through on 9/11.''
A Con Ed spokesman said the private utility does not comment on pending litigation.
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Steam Pipe Inspected Before Blast
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