Expert: Collapse demolition contractor was 'totally incompetent, inexperienced'

The owner, property manager, and architect whose Center City demolition project ended in the deadly 2013 collapse that crushed a Salvation Army thrift store failed to follow "customs and practices" of the construction and demolition industry in hiring their demolition contractor, a construction industry expert testified Thursday.

The result, expert Stephen A. Estrin told a Philadelphia jury, was the hiring of a novice demolition contractor who was "totally incompetent and inexperienced."

Estrin testified for plaintiffs in the Common Pleas Court trial of lawsuits filed on behalf of six people killed and 13 injured on June 5, 2013.

Estrin said Richard Basciano, the New York real estate speculator who owned the vacant four-story Hoagie City building at 2136-38 Market St., and his property manager and top aide Thomas Simmonds, did no due diligence research before signing the contract with North Philadelphia demolition contractor Griffin Campbell.

Instead, Estrin said, Basciano and Simmonds relied solely on the recommendation of Campbell by Center City architect Plato A. Marinakos Jr., whom they hired as their representative monitoring demolition of five Basciano properties in the 2100 and 2200 blocks of Market Street.

And Marinakos recommended Campbell, the lower bidder against two established demonstration contractors, despite the fact that Campbell had no city contractor's license and had demolished only two burned-out rowhouses in North Philadelphia.

Estrin, 77, of Osprey, Fla., is a former carpenter and general contractor who for the last eight years has worked full time as a "forensic construction consultant" who analyzes building failures.

Estrin has worked for about 25 years with Robert J. Mongeluzzi, one of the chief plaintiff's lawyers in the collapse. Mongeluzzi used Estrin as an expert in the litigation involving the 2000 Pier 34 collapse on the Delaware River, which killed three people and injured 43, and the 2003 collapse of a parking garage under construction at the Tropicana Casino Resort in Atlantic City, which killed four and injured dozens.

On Thursday, Mongeluzzi projected on a courtroom screen quotes from the deposition testimony of the 91-year-old Basciano, Simmonds, and Marinakos.

Then, over repeated defense objections overruled by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, Mongeluzzi asked Estrin to opine on whether their actions complied with industry standards.

Basciano and Simmonds testified that they knew nothing about Campbell before Basciano approved and Simmonds signed the contract with him.

"I'm responsible for everything he does," said Estrin, describing the legal relationship between a property owner and a contractor whom the owner hires.

According to earlier testimony, Marinakos recommended Campbell - with whom he had worked on several construction projects - for the Basciano demolition project despite knowing that Campbell was unlicensed, did not have insurance coverage for demolition work, had not formed a company or established a corporate bank account, and cashed his $25,000 deposit from Basciano's STB Investments Corp. at a neighborhood check-cashing agency.

"Demolition work is too dangerous to have someone doing for the first time," Estrin told the jury of six men and six women.

Campbell had successfully demolished two adjacent Basciano buildings in the 2100 block of Market before starting work on the Hoagie City building in February 2013.

On the morning of June 5, 2013, as an excavator operator Campbell hired picked at the rear of the building, a three- to four-story unbraced brick wall toppled and crushed the one-story thrift store.

Six people died in the rubble and 13 were injured. One of the injured died 23 days later.

Being sued are: the Salvation Army, Basciano, STB, Marinakos, Campbell, and excavator operator Sean Benschop.

Benschop pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and testified against Campbell at trial last year. Campbell was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Both are serving long prison terms and are considered indigent. Marinakos testified against both men under a grant of immunity from prosecution by the District Attorney's Office.

           

Source: Philly.com