Lawsuit claims Skanska failed to monitor water quality during Manhattan outbreak

Four construction workers filed a $40 million lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against the City of New York and Skanska. The suit relates to a Legionnaires’ outbreak last year that killed seven people and sickened 100 others. The workers claim the water quality monitoring computer system at the Harlem Public Health Lab water tower lacked a proper internet connection, preventing real-time alerts. Court documents state the physical cause of the outbreak was a busted valve that stopped the system from flushing dirty water.

The lawsuit places Skanska and the City of New York under legal scrutiny regarding public health infrastructure failure. The suit alleges that if the monitoring machine had been maintained as intended, Skanska could have known about the dangerous condition in the cooling tower.