Queens Legionnaires’ Disease Lawyer
Helping Queens Residents Recover After Preventable Legionnaires’ Disease
Queens is home to millions of residents and thousands of apartment buildings, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, office buildings, manufacturing facilities, and commercial properties. These buildings rely on complex plumbing systems, cooling towers, rooftop water tanks, and other water infrastructure that must be properly maintained. When those systems are neglected, Legionella bacteria can grow and spread through contaminated water droplets, causing Legionnaires’ disease. Legionnaires’ disease is a severe and potentially life-threatening form of bacterial pneumonia that often requires hospitalization and can leave victims with permanent health complications, overwhelming medical expenses, lost income, and lasting physical and emotional harm. Because many outbreaks are preventable through proper building maintenance and water management, victims may have the right to pursue compensation when negligence contributed to their illness.
If you or a loved one developed Legionnaires’ disease after living, working, receiving medical care, or staying in Queens, Greenstein & Pittari, LLP can investigate your claim, preserve critical evidence, and pursue every responsible party. Call 1-800-VICTIM2 (1-800-842-8462) for a free consultation. There is no attorney’s fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Queens at risk for Legionnaires’ disease?
Queens contains one of New York City’s largest concentrations of residential, commercial, industrial, healthcare, and hospitality properties. Apartment buildings, condominiums, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, airports, office buildings, schools, manufacturing facilities, and shopping centers all depend on plumbing systems, cooling towers, rooftop water tanks, hot water systems, therapy pools, and other equipment that require routine inspection, cleaning, testing, and maintenance. If these systems are not properly maintained, Legionella bacteria can multiply and spread through contaminated water droplets, placing residents, workers, patients, travelers, and visitors at risk.
What is Legionnaires’ disease and how does someone become infected?
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe bacterial pneumonia caused by inhaling microscopic water droplets contaminated with Legionella bacteria. It is generally not spread from person to person. Without prompt medical treatment, it can lead to respiratory failure, sepsis, kidney complications, permanent lung damage, prolonged hospitalization, and even death. Exposure may occur in apartment buildings, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, office buildings, schools, airports, manufacturing facilities, and other properties where plumbing systems, cooling towers, rooftop water tanks, or similar water systems are not properly maintained. Many victims require lengthy hospital stays followed by extensive rehabilitation.
Who faces the greatest risk of severe illness?
Although anyone can contract Legionnaires’ disease, adults over 50, current and former smokers, individuals with chronic lung disease, diabetes, kidney disease, cancer, weakened immune systems, organ transplant recipients, hospital patients, and nursing home residents are at the highest risk of severe complications. Healthcare facilities and long-term care centers therefore have an especially important responsibility to maintain safe water systems because they care for medically vulnerable populations.
How does Greenstein & Pittari investigate Legionnaires’ disease cases?
Every Legionnaires’ disease lawsuit requires a thorough investigation supported by medical, environmental, and engineering evidence. Our attorneys review medical records, laboratory testing, Department of Health investigations, water management plans, cooling tower inspections, plumbing maintenance records, environmental testing, engineering reports, contractor agreements, maintenance schedules, internal communications, and building inspection reports. We also work with infectious disease physicians, epidemiologists, environmental engineers, microbiologists, mechanical engineers, and water treatment specialists to determine where the exposure occurred and whether negligent maintenance contributed to the illness.
Who may be held liable?
Depending on the circumstances, responsible parties may include property owners, apartment building owners, condominium associations, cooperative corporations, management companies, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, commercial landlords, plumbing contractors, maintenance companies, engineering consultants, water treatment providers, and cooling tower service contractors. Determining liability requires identifying who controlled the water system, what maintenance responsibilities existed, and whether accepted safety practices were followed before the exposure occurred.
What compensation may be available?
Victims may be entitled to recover compensation for medical expenses, hospitalization, rehabilitation, future medical treatment, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, pain and suffering, emotional distress, permanent respiratory impairment, and reduced quality of life. If Legionnaires’ disease results in the death of a loved one, surviving family members may also have the right to pursue a wrongful death claim under New York law.
Why is it important to contact a lawyer quickly?
Evidence in Legionnaires’ disease cases can disappear rapidly. Once contamination is suspected, property owners often clean cooling towers, flush plumbing systems, disinfect water lines, replace equipment, conduct environmental testing, or revise maintenance procedures. While these actions may improve public safety, they can also eliminate evidence needed to prove negligence. Early legal representation allows your attorney to preserve maintenance records, inspection reports, testing results, and other critical documentation before it is lost, giving experts the best opportunity to determine the source of exposure.
How much does it cost to hire Greenstein & Pittari, LLP?
Greenstein & Pittari, LLP handles Legionnaires’ disease cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay no upfront attorney’s fees, and you owe nothing unless we successfully recover compensation for you. We also provide free consultations so you can understand your legal options without financial risk.
Why Choose Greenstein & Pittari, LLP?
Legionnaires’ disease litigation involves complex issues of premises liability, infectious disease medicine, environmental engineering, and building water system maintenance. Greenstein & Pittari, LLP works with leading experts to identify the source of exposure, preserve critical evidence, and hold negligent property owners accountable.
Our attorneys proudly represent clients throughout Queens, including Astoria, Long Island City, Flushing, Jamaica, Forest Hills, Bayside, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona, Ridgewood, Far Rockaway, and every surrounding neighborhood. We offer free consultations, bilingual legal services, personalized representation, and trial-ready advocacy focused exclusively on protecting injury victims.
If you or someone you love contracted Legionnaires’ disease after exposure to a contaminated building water system in Queens, call 1-800-VICTIM2 (1-800-842-8462) today for a free consultation.
Don’t Be a Victim Twice.