Consolidated Edison is blaming the city for the 2014 East Harlem gas explosion that killed eight people and injured many more, in a lawsuit made public on Monday that claims Big Apple officials knew about faulty infrastructure before the devastating blast.
The suit was filed Friday, just days before the National Transportation Safety Board’s report on the incident, which is due Tuesday.
The utility and the city are facing hundreds of lawsuits over the incident and the mayor has projected spending over $30 million to settle the cases.
The Manhattan Supreme Court suit says the city Department of Transportation was “informed about depressions and cave-ins in the roadway at Park Avenue between E. 116th and E. 177th streets multiple times over several years, including the week prior to the incident.”
In that same area, inspectors had found a sewer main breach — a crack in a cast-iron water main that allowed water, rocks, sand, pavement and other debris to damage underground gas facilities, according to court papers.
The Con Ed suit says that breach “caused physical damage to the gas facilities and was a primary causal factor of the incident.”
Con Ed is asking the court for damages related to investigation and cleanup costs as well as indemnification for settlements or verdicts.
A city Law Department spokesman said, “The suit will be reviewed.”