Grieving families sue NYC over deadly 2025 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak – as Mamdani faces heat for new deadly cluster

Grieving families sue NYC over deadly 2025 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak – as Mamdani faces heat for new deadly cluster

Grieving families and survivors of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak linked to city-owned buildings in Harlem sued the Big Apple on Thursday — demanding Mayor Zohran Mamdani take action as he deals with a new deadly cluster.

The trio of lawsuits unveiled by the Rev. Al Sharpton and civil rights attorney Ben Crump in Harlem included a wrongful death claim covering five of the seven people who tragically died in the 2025 outbreak.

An emotional Lakisha Power cradled her 6-year-old daughter during the news conference, recounting afterward how her fiancée Bruce Scott died from the disease while holding her hand in Harlem Hospital.

“The last time she’s seen her dad, he was leaving to go to the hospital,” she said. “And he never came back out.

“The dynamic that’s so troubling that these were just regular people living in Harlem, unsuspecting at all.”

Grieving families — with the backing of the Rev. Al Sharpton and civil rights attorney Ben Crump — sued the Big Apple on Thursday over a 2025 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak. William Farrington for the New York Post

The lawsuits contend that more than 100 people in Harlem contracted the disease because Big Apple officials and contractors effectively let Legionella bacteria fester in cooling towers atop the city’s Public Health Lab and Harlem Hospital — the building where Power died.

The wrongful death claim comes from Power’s family, as well as those of Ronald Israel, Clara Rodriguez, Edgar Tatum Jr. and Rachel Tew, who also died during the outbreak.

The two other suits cover surviving victims and accuse the city, New York City Health + Hospital, the city’s Economic Development Corporation, construction firm Skanska USA Building and four contractors of negligence and maintaining a public nuisance.

The trio of lawsuits dovetailed with related filings that Crump and Sharpton unveiled last year, pointing the finger at city-owned buildings and, ultimately, then-Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.

City-owned Harlem Hospital was linked to the 2025 outbreak. Google Earth

Crump called on Mamdani to do right by the families, even if the outbreak happened under his predecessor’s watch.

He also slyly mentioned this summer’s Legionnaires’ disease cluster on the Upper East Side that has so far left seven people dead and sickened dozens of others — an outbreak for which Mamdani faced fire over his administration’s alleged flat-footed response.

“Now, while we applaud Mamdani’s expeditious efforts to address and stop the Legionnaires’ outbreak on the Upper East Side just last month, we urge Mamdani and the city to properly resolve this matter with these families,” Crump said.

“These are people who were injured, are killed as a result of this negligence, and the survivors and the families of the deceased deserve to have this matter resolved.”

Sharpton called on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to act. William Farrington for the New York Post

Sharpton also appealed to Mamdani to act without delay.

“Our lives mean something,” he said.

“If Legionnaires’ disease was bad in one part of town, it should be valued the same in every part. And that is what this is about.”

A spokesperson for the city’s law department maintained officials worked to protect New Yorkers.

“Protecting public health and safety is at the center of the City’s response,” the spokesperson said. “We will carefully review these cases.”

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