Lawyer says pooled water to blame for collapse
A lawyer for the owners of an old apartment building that collapsed last month in Washington, Pa., trapping a woman under a refrigerator for hours and triggering a complex rescue operation, said Thursday that investigators for the landlords’ insurer blamed the weight of water pooling on the structure’s flat roof for the failure.
Elizabeth M. Tarasi, who is representing landlords Mark and Melissa Russo, said the water came from a downspout on an adjacent building.
“There was water running off the building beside him. They ran their drains onto his roof. It was a flat roof. The water caused the roof to collapse,” Ms. Tarasi said Thursday morning.
“This was the cause and origin. That’s what I’ve been told by the insurance company’s cause and origin investigators.”
She said she did not yet have a written report on the collapse from the United States Liability Insurance Company.
Ron McIntyre, Washington’s code enforcement officer, said he was unaware of the determination. He referred questions to Washington Mayor Scott Putnam, who could not immediately be reached for comment.
It was unclear whether any public entity was investigating the collapse, or if officials left any probe entirely in the hands of the insurance company.
A summary trial for the Russos on a building citation was supposed to be held Thursday afternoon before District Judge Robert Redlinger, but it was postponed at Ms. Tarasi’s request.
“We’re getting things worked out,” Ms. Tarasi said.
A new court date was not available.
At the time of the July 12 collapse, Mr. McIntyre described citations since 2011 for a range of issues at the property and several others Mr. Russo owns, including cracked walls, lack of snow and ice removal, and not emptying a Dumpster. Mr. McIntyre at the time said he would describe Mr. Russo as being negligent. He said Mr. Russo was cited in February for “accessory structure for wall falling down” after bricks fell off the building.
Mr. McIntyre said he had not been inside the building for about a year and did not anticipate that it would collapse.
While describing a range of building problems in interviews at the time, Mr. McIntyre did not mention concerns about water pooling on the roof of Mr. Russo’s building or downspouts from another building emptying rainwater onto the roof.
“Why they didn’t catch this before, I don’t know,” Ms. Tarasi said, adding that her client was stunned by the building failure, which “totally blew him away.”
Ms. Tarasi claimed the problem her client was cited for had nothing to do with the reason for the collapse. She said her client cared for his property, was responsive to complaints and helped fill a niche for low-income renters who could not afford a security deposit.
She said she thought it was unfair for Mr. McIntyre to have publicly skewered Mr. Russo in the aftermath of the collapse.
“It’s unfortunate that it collapsed, but there was no negligence or him doing anything wrong,” Ms. Tarasi said.
“He’s not a slum landlord. He did take care of the house. Every time there was an issue ... he went and he addressed the issue.”
She said the exterior wall for which her client was cited did not collapse.
The 117-year-old brick building at 15 N. Main St. and East Beau Street, across from the Washington County Courthouse, collapsed following rainstorms the night before.
One second-floor resident told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that a piece of the ceiling fell and hit him in the back during the storm. Residents described other problems including cracks in the walls and the separation of a flight of interior stairs from the wall.
During the collapse, Megan Angelone, a thirdfloor resident, became trapped beneath a refrigerator for nine hours. She was freed through a dramatic operation that involved boring a hole through the wall in a coffee shop next door and using using hydraulic tools, hand tools and air bags to move debris from around her.
The building remains partially standing, Ms. Tarasi said. She explained that she is still trying to work out coverage for the cost of demolition.
Jonathan D. Silver: jsilver@post-gazette.com, 412263-1962 or on Twitter @jsilverpg.