Can you sue your landlord for Legionnaires’ disease in New York City? In many cases, yes. You may have a claim if your landlord failed to properly maintain or inspect the building’s water system and that failure caused you to become sick.
New York law does not automatically hold a property owner responsible whenever someone contracts Legionnaires’ disease in their building. Instead, the question is whether the owner failed to act as a reasonably careful property owner would have acted, and whether that failure caused the illness. Maintenance and inspection records can be especially important in these cases.
That question has taken on new urgency after a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Eleven people died, and 94 became sick before the New York City Health Department declared the outbreak over on August 29. The source of the bacteria was never publicly identified.
For affected families and residents still recovering, the lack of a publicly identified source leaves important questions unanswered. If a building’s water system contributed to the outbreak, the owner’s maintenance history may help determine whether legal responsibility exists.
What Happened on the Upper East Side
The Health Department opened its investigation on July 2nd after finding two nearby cases in Carnegie Hill. The cluster eventually covered three ZIP codes, 10028, 10128, and 10075.
According to the NYC Health Department, 183 cooling towers at 160 buildings were tested for Legionella bacteria. Of those, 77 cooling towers at 75 buildings came back positive on initial screening, and live bacteria was confirmed by culture in 59 cooling towers at 58 buildings. All were ordered to be cleaned and disinfected.
A cooling tower is part of a building’s air conditioning system. It sits on the roof and sheds heat by evaporating water, which means it produces mist. When Legionella bacteria grows in the water inside a neglected tower, that mist carries it into the air the neighborhood breathes. This is a building maintenance story rather than a personal hygiene story. The Health Department is clear that the illness is not contagious.
The Legal Duty New York City Puts on Building Owners
New York City does not leave cooling tower upkeep to building owners’ good judgment.
Under the city’s cooling tower law at Administrative Code 17-194.1 and the regulations at 24 RCNY Chapter 8, an owner must:
- Register the cooling tower system with the city.
- Sample the system for Legionella every month, with no more than 31 days between samples.
- Report each sampling result to the Health Department within five days of collection.
- Perform hyperhalogenation, a deep disinfection of the system, between July 1 and August 31 of each year.
- Keep a written Maintenance Program and Plan for monitoring and cleaning and disinfection.
- Retain maintenance and testing records for at least three years.
That last requirement matters to an injured resident. The law obligates the owner to keep the very paper trail that shows whether the building was being looked after, turning a vague sense that “the building should have been cleaner” into something a lawyer can prove.
What Landlord Negligence Looks Like
Reporting during this outbreak showed exactly the kind of gap that creates legal exposure. THE CITY reviewed municipal records in July and found that four Upper East Side buildings with confirmed live Legionella were out of compliance with the monthly test reporting rule. That same reporting found more than 500 Manhattan cooling towers were not current on their reporting.
In practical terms, negligence in this setting tends to look like one of the following:
- Never registering a cooling tower system with the city.
- Skipping the required monthly sampling, or letting far more than 31 days pass between samples.
- Collecting samples but never reporting the results to the Health Department.
- Missing the annual summer disinfection window entirely.
- Never preparing the required Maintenance Program and Plan, or having one nobody follows.
- Receiving a positive test result and delaying the cleanup instead of acting immediately.
- Cutting the water treatment budget or ignoring resident complaints about building systems.
The same reasoning reaches beyond cooling towers. The CDC identifies large plumbing systems as a place Legionella grows, along with showerheads and decorative fountains. The bacteria multiplies in water held between 77 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit, helped along by stagnant water and biofilm.
Who Can Be Held Responsible
More than one party often shares the blame. Depending on the building, responsibility may fall on the building owner or cooling tower system owner, the property management company, a co-op or condominium board acting as the owner, or the water treatment contractor retained to service the system. Claims involving a city-owned building follow a much faster track, since the window to act can be as short as 90 days.
What a Harmed Resident May Be Able to Recover
Legionnaires’ disease is not a mild illness. The CDC reports that about 1 out of every 10 people who get sick will die from complications, and among people who are hospitalized, about 1 out of every 4 will die. Symptoms usually appear 2 to 14 days after exposure.
A successful premises liability claim in New York State may allow an injured resident to pursue compensation for medical treatment and lost wages. Pain and suffering and other out-of-pocket expenses tied to the illness may be recoverable as well.
When a resident dies, New York State law allows certain family members to bring a wrongful death claim. Spouses and parents and children may file, while extended family members are generally excluded absent a guardian or personal representative role. That claim can seek funeral costs along with the deceased person’s medical bills and lost income.
Deadlines Are Not Flexible
An injured person generally has three years from the date of injury to file a personal injury claim in New York State. For wrongful death, the statute of limitations is generally two years from the date of the fatality. Claims against a municipality can carry far shorter timeframes, in some situations as little as 90 days. Exceptions exist in both directions, which is why an early conversation with an attorney matters more than a guess about which deadline applies.
Timing beyond the filing deadline can never be predicted. It varies enormously from one case to the next, and any lawyer who offers you a schedule at the outset is not being straight with you. What can be said honestly is that evidence gets harder to secure as time passes.
What to Do If You Believe a Building Made You Sick
- Get a medical diagnosis with Legionnaires’ disease specifically documented in your records.
- Write down where you lived or worked or visited in the two weeks before symptoms started.
- Keep every medical bill and record of missed work.
- Save any notice the building provided about its water or cooling systems.
- Preserve written complaints you made to the landlord or management company.
- Speak with an attorney before signing anything a landlord or an insurer puts in front of you.
Fighting for Tenants Failed by Their Buildings
Eric Richman has represented injury victims in New York City and the surrounding areas for over 25 years, and holding property owners accountable for neglected buildings is central to that work. Our premises liability practice covers injuries at apartment complexes and other properties where owners failed to take reasonable steps to protect the people inside.
That record includes results built on the same principle, which is that a building owner who lets a known problem sit is answerable for what follows. Eric Richman, Esq. secured $2,000,000 for a woman who was sexually assaulted in her apartment building, after filing suit against the building’s owners and citing a front door that had been broken for at least two years. He also recovered $1,500,000 for the family of a tenant murdered in her New York City apartment in a building that was left unsafe. These were not illness claims, and every case turns on its own facts, but the failure at the center of each one is the same failure residents saw this summer.
If a poorly maintained building has harmed you or someone in your family, you will speak with Eric or one of the experienced attorneys on his team. Consultations are free, and the phones are answered 24 hours a day. You owe no attorney fee unless we win your case.
Contact Us Call (212) 866-3956
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue my landlord if I caught Legionnaires’ disease in my apartment building?
You may be able to. The claim rests on proving that the owner or management company failed to maintain or inspect a building water system as required by law and ordinary care, and that the failure caused your illness.
What if the Health Department never confirmed which building caused the outbreak?
That does not end a claim. City records showing missed testing or delayed disinfection at a specific building can support a case even where officials never announced a single source.
What if my landlord says they followed all the rules?
Then the records will show it. The law requires owners to sample monthly, report results within five days and keep documentation for at least three years. An attorney can compare those filings against what the building claims.
How much does it cost to have my case reviewed?
Nothing. Consultations are free and there is no upfront cost. You owe no attorney fee unless we win your case.
Sources
- NYC Health Department, Legionnaires’ Disease: https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/legionnaires-disease.page
- NYC Health Department, Cooling Towers: https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/business/permits-and-licenses/cooling-towers.page
- Office of the Mayor, “Mayor Mamdani Takes Aggressive Action to Address Upper East Side Legionnaires’ Disease Cluster,” July 7, 2026: https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/07/mayor-mamdani-takes-aggressive-action-to-address-upper-east-side
- CDC, About Legionnaires’ Disease: https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/about/index.html (1 in 10 fatality rate, 1 in 4 among hospitalized, 2 to 14 day incubation).
- CDC, Causes and Spread of Legionella: https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/about/causes-transmission.html (building water systems where Legionella grows, 77 to 113 degree growth range, stagnation and biofilm).
- Law Offices of Eric Richman, Premises Liability: https://richman-law.com/practice-area/premises-liability-lawyer-ec/ (three year personal injury deadline, 90 day municipal timeframe, property owner duty).
- Law Offices of Eric Richman, Wrongful Death: https://richman-law.com/practice-area/wrongful-death-attorney-nyc-ec/ (who may file, two year deadline, damages).
- Law Offices of Eric Richman, Settlements: https://richman-law.com/settlements/ ($2,000,000 apartment building owner claim, $1,500,000 tenant negligent security claim).