The widow of a firefighter who perished responding to a Harlem blaze that broke out during the filming of actor Edward Norton’s “Motherless Brooklyn” has filed suit against the city for not providing her husband with a safe work environment.
Eileen Davidson — whose husband, Michael Davidson, died March 22, 2018 — filed the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit Monday following a judge’s order from last week green-lighting the case, despite a deadline for notifying the city about a potential case having lapsed.
The suit claims the city had inspected and issued permits to film at the 773 St. Nicholas Ave. building, “Despite knowledge and awareness of open violations at the aforesaid premises,” the court papers claim.
“The City was aware of alterations in the premises, the inoperability of the sprinkler system and the addition of flammable and combustible materials to the premises as a result of the movie production,” the court documents charge.
The filming alterations included “the erection of walls, the removal of ceilings, walls, sheetrock and other fire stopping, or fire mitigation, materials and structures,” and therefore “additional fire safety procedures and equipment were required,” the suit claims.
All these factors made it more dangerous for the firefighters and contributed to the 37-year-old Bravest becoming trapped and dying, which the city should have known, the lawsuit says.
Eileen Davidson and a group of tenants have already filed a series of lawsuits against the building owner and production company Class 5 Inc.
“This was a tragic incident. We’ll review the case,” a rep with the city Law Department said.