Six victims file suit in building collapse

Felicia Hill, 36 and a mother of seven, was pricing clothing in the rear of the Salvation Army thrift shop Wednesday when she felt an earthquake-like shake, heard a whoosh of wind, then saw a wall fall in, kicking up a cloud of choking dust.

Through the haze, she saw only the hand of a fast-buried coworker, Kimberly Finnegan, with whom she'd been speaking moments earlier.

"I started running for my life, and all I could think about was my children," Hill said Monday at a news conference in which her attorneys announced they were filing several lawsuits in the building collapse that killed six workers and shoppers and injured 13.

A firefighter and a passerby whose name she never learned help pull Hill, who had been battered by falling debris, from the wreckage, she said.

"I'm banged up, emotionally scarred," said Hill, speaking haltingly, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, and pausing several times to compose herself.

Hill, a North Philadelphia resident who had been working full time at the shop only since May, said she was not seriously hurt in the collapse.

Along with five others, Hill is suing Richard Basciano, the owner of the building that collapsed while being demolished. They are also suing Basciano's company, STB Investments Corp., as well as demolition contractor Griffin T. Campbell and others.

Thomas A. Sprague, an attorney for Basciano, could not be reached Monday for comment.

R. Emmett Madden, described as Hill's family attorney, will represent Hill, along with attorney Robert Mongeluzzi.

The list of plaintiffs represented by Mongeluzzi, as well as several co-counsels, includes:

Rosemary Kreutzberg, 66, a retired insurance professional from Philadelphia, who was shopping at the time of the collapse. Her head was pinned under debris for nearly three hours.

Rodney Geddis, 21, a store sales associate from West Philadelphia, who suffered a blow to the head and other injuries.

Jennifer Reynolds, 27, a Fitler Square event planner, who was shopping at the store. She has what were described as extensive injuries to the head, face, and neck.

Bernard DiTomo, 61, of Broomall, a construction worker who was in his truck on 22d Street when he was struck in his upper body by flying debris. He was being treated for those injuries as well as respiratory complications.

Nadine White, 54, a sales associate from South Philadelphia, who was covered by debris in the collapse and was injured.

Other victims of the collapse were expected to file suits as well, the attorneys said Monday.

Hill said that during the collapse, she heard bricks striking the shop's roof.

But she said she and coworkers had heard bricks falling onto the roof at times several days before the collapse while the demolition of the building next door was going on.

Mongeluzzi, who represented two tourists from Hungary who were killed in July 2010 in the Ride the Ducks accident on the Delaware River near Penn's Landing, excoriated the demolition team that had knocked down the wall that collapsed.

He said that the team had used the wrong equipment, should have done the job by hand, should have been guided by an engineering survey, which he said they lacked.

Mongeluzzi added that his six clients "survived by the grace of God." The six who died, he said, "were not so lucky."