The Twin Parks North West apartment building commands the Fordham Heights skyline on a late afternoon in December 2022.
Photo Aliya Schneider
Almost two years after New York City’s deadliest fire in three decades, lawsuits that have arisen from the blaze remain in limbo.
According to an Oct. 31 order issued by Judge Raymond Fernandez, acting justice of Bronx County Supreme Court, the cases against the Twin Parks ownership consortium are still in the consolidation phase. In the most recent order, Fernandez appointed a plaintiffs’ steering committee (PSC) — a group of attorneys to lead the common interests of all the plaintiffs.
“As is routine in many complex product liability cases, this litigation is consolidated in the interest of justice and judicial economy since the claims arise from a single occurrence,” said Al Baker, the communications director with the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA).
There are five attorneys the judge appointed to the PSC on Oct. 31: Robert Vilensky, Thomas J. Moverman, Steven Weinstein, Daniel J. Solinsky and Nicholas Wise. Baker said the five lawyers appointed to the PSC are representing 90% of the plaintiffs filing suit against Bronx Park Phase III Preservation LLC — the Twin Parks ownership group consisting of Belveron Partners, the LIHC Investment Group and the Camber Property Group.
Fernandez also appointed 12 lawyers to a similar liaison counsel for the defendants.
This comes eight months after Doris Gonzalez, the administrative judge for civil matters in the 12th Judicial District, announced in March that all the cases regarding the Twin Parks blaze — identified in court documents as the “333 E. 181st Street Fire” — would be presided over by a single judge, since they all have the same respondent. As of Sept. 8, there were 66 separate cases filed against the Twin Parks ownership consortium, according to court documents.
The court spokesperson at the time…
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