Retired Transit Employees, Suffering Severe Illnesses, File Suit in New York Supreme Court

Manufacturers of Diesel Engines and Buses Are the Target

NEW YORK, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Claiming that decades of exposure to diesel fumes at 19 Transit Authority-owned and -operated bus depots caused severe medical repercussions, 13 former transit employees or their next of kin today filed suit in New York Supreme Court in three counties (New York, Kings and Bronx) against the manufactures of diesel engines and buses, including General Motors, Grumman, Detroit Diesel, and Cummins Diesel.

The 13 plaintiffs worked a combined 254,159 hours in 19 unventilated bus depots without exhaust systems from 1958 to 1999, as bus drivers, bus shifters, and bus mechanics for the Transit Authority and Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority.

Of the men who filed suit nine have various forms of cancer with the other four having pulmonary arrest and heart conditions, and some having a combination of all three conditions. Two of the men named in the suit are already deceased with family members filing the case on their behalf.

At a press conference held at the law offices of John C. Dearie, several of the plaintiffs commented on the atrocious conditions in bus depots prior to the depot renovations over the past decade. Mr. Dearie and John E. Durst, Jr., of The Durst Law Firm PC are co-counsels in the case.

"City buses operated in every community, driving New Yorkers to work, school, the hospital, and family visits, but riders never knew their drivers and the mechanics who maintained the bus fleet were, unknowingly, exposed to hazardous diesel fumes every day back in the depots," said Mr. Dearie. "It is unconscionable to think that these men were subjected to these harmful fumes for such extended periods of time without any protection or warnings as to the hazard of diesel exposure."

A chart with the names of the plaintiffs, their jobs and the amount of time they were exposed is attached. Defendants in the case include manufacturers of diesel engines and diesel-fueled buses.

"The original cluster of plaintiffs includes 11 surviving workers and family members representing two deceased plaintiffs. It is likely that the number of plaintiffs will increase over time as more of the former workers -- or their living family members -- realize that there is a link between the fatal diseases that plague them and the conditions at their job sites," explained Mr. Durst. "Since literally millions of other workers in the transportation, construction, railroad and package delivery industries faced similar diesel fume exposure conditions, resulting in heart and lung malignancies, it is anticipated that additional lawsuits will follow this initial one."

One major contributor to the unhealthy diesel fume clouds within the depots, came from up to 100 idling buses with their engines running over night, inside the depots, for eight to 10 hours, because diesel engines, if turned off, would frequently not start up again for the morning routes.

Those who believe that they have been affected by diesel fumes can obtain more information by contacting Law Offices of John C. Dearie & Associates at 800-233-2743.