A Larchmont couple claims that dangerous radon gas seeps into their house because a neighboring property owner had 30 holes illegally drilled under their land.
Marjatta and Michael Dick are demanding $1 million from a Pelham landlord and a Yonkers contractor, in a complaint filed on Feb. 26 in Westchester Supreme Court, for allegedly trespassing and creating a public nuisance.
The Dicks claim they have incurred expensive remediation costs, loss of property value and “ongoing psychological discomfort and distress and foreseeable painful and life-threatening physical conditions.”
The Dicks live on Rock Ridge Road in a house worth an estimated $1.6 million, according to Realtor.com. An abutting property on 1329 Boston Post Road is occupied by New York-Presbyterian Medical Group and is owned by a Pelham company affiliated with Direct Property Management LLC.
The Dicks live on a ridge roughly 15 feet higher than Boston Post Road. Their backyard ends near the top of a stone wall that rises from a parking lot next to the clinic.
Around 2024, the stone wall began to crumble and drop rocks and debris onto the clinic’s parking lot, according to the lawsuit. Around September 2024, Tony Casale Inc., of Yonkers, and other contractors began working on the wall.
Workers allegedly drilled 30 holes that extended under the Dick’s property, inserted long steel rods, and injected concrete and adhesives.
The process disturbed the soil and rocks, the Dicks contend, and released radon, a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that is the most frequent cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.
The landlord and the contractor never notified the Dicks, according to the complaint, nor asked for permission, to drill under their property.
The Dicks were well aware of radon and Michael regularly monitored the gas, the complaint states. A test taken before drilling began detected less than 3.0 picocuries per liter of air.
The average indoor concentration for American homes is 1.3, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and remediation is recommended when radon reaches levels between 2.0 to 4.0.
After the holes were drilled, the complaint states, radon spiked to over 7.0.
Had the landlord or contractor notified the Dicks of their plans, the couple claims, they would have objected, demanded a different method of repairing the stone wall, and would have hired a geotechnical engineer to review the plans.
The Dicks hired a specialist to fix the problem, according to the complaint, but remediation did not work. Radon levels continued to spike, to 15.0. Now the windows have to be left open to ventilate the house.
Removing the steel rods would disturb the rocks and soil more and worsen the radon, according to the complaint. So besides demanding $1 million in damages, the Dicks are asking for an easement that would allow the underground intrusion to remain permanently and require the landlord to make annual payments to cover radon mitigation and “ongoing impacts.”
Direct Property Management acknowledged an email asking for its side of the story, but has not offered a comment yet. Tony Casales Inc. did not reply to the email.
The Dicks are represented by White Plains attorney Matthew T. Worner.
