Suit Claims Asbestos Poisoning at Hudson Hotel

A tenant at the Hudson Hotel in Midtown is claiming he was poisoned by asbestos after the hotel ignored environmental safety procedures.

According to a lawsuit filed in state court yesterday, the hotel knowingly put dozens of permanent tenants at risk when it removed asbestos from apartments it was planning to convert into guest suites.

Workers dumped the asbestos in "an eight foot box, in very poor condition, which was OPEN at all times and read 'Danger Asbestos,'" the plaintiff, Thomas Pavese, stated in the suit. The workers then proceeded to blow the asbestos out the window with a metal hose, he claimed, spreading it over the street and inside the building. They also allegedly put some of the asbestos in tenants' garbage containers in the hallways.

Mr. Pavese claims that as a result, he has trouble breathing and has been hospitalized for a chronic illness. He is seeking more than $50 million in damages.

The Hudson Hotel, formerly known as the Henry Hudson Hotel, began the asbestos removal in 1999, according to the suit. Hotel representatives could not be reached for comment yesterday evening.