PHILADELPHIA – A trio of plaintiffs claim that an environmental remediation firm botched the lead paint removal of a West Chester home dating back to the 18th century and have led them to spend more than $120,000 repairing the company’s mistakes.
Nicholas Bell, Teresa Bell and Kristen Bell of West Chester filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on June 27 versus USA Environmental Management, Inc. of Philadelphia and ECS Mid-Atlantic Co. of York.
Per the litigation, plaintiff Teresa Bell owns the real estate located at 1936 Lenape Road, originally built in 1742.
Plaintiff Nicholas Bell entered into a contract with defendant USA Environmental Management to perform the removal of toxic lead paint from the Lenape Road property in cooperation with federal guidelines, and paid $5,000 for it to do so.
“The contract work was supposed to begin by defendant USA on or about April 29, 2017 and be completed on or about July 17, 2017, which included removal, cleaning and disposal of lead contaminated materials and lead base paint at the above-mentioned site in accordance with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Guidelines and Lead Abatement Specification 1936 RT Project #72654-01, dated October 2016. Plaintiff Nicholas Bell also entered into a contract with defendant ECS to monitor the lead abatement project and take samples and have them tested up to and including giving final clearances upon completion of the project,” the suit states.
“Employees of defendant USA did not arrive to begin work until May 1, 2017, and upon inspection by plaintiffs, it became obvious that the defendant was not performing its work in accordance with applicable regulations that are designed to protect the public from exposure to toxic lead paint.”
However, the plaintiffs say that proper abatements procedures were not in place, poly was not being used and debris was being thrown out of the window openings and protective equipment was not used by the workers, among other charges, in violation of both the Pennsylvania Lead Certification Act and Federal Toxic Substances Control Act.
Defendant ECS performed five site inspections in May 2017, and found violations by defendant USA. These included a lack of protective covering from lead paint chips, dirty floors, an open kitchen vent, not having excavated the soil to prevent lead paint chips from falling into cracks and going into the basement, dust and debris on the furniture and floors and a dirty HVAC supply vent.
Due to the defendant’s failures to comply with the applicable laws regarding proper lead abatement, the plaintiffs have incurred expenses of more than $120,000 in remedying the defendants’ various mistakes, plus additional charges.
For counts of negligence and violations of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, the plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $50,000, plus interest, treble damages, attorney’s fees and costs.
The plaintiffs are represented by Frank P. Murphy of Murphy Woodward, in Norristown.
The defendants are represented by Francis J. Deasey of Deasey Mahoney & Valentini in Philadelphia and Patrick M. McGrory of Tighe & Cottrell, in Wilmington, Del.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 180603448
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com