NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (July 14, 2026) — A maintenance worker who was blinded in a chemical explosion at the Westchester Family Courthouse parking garage has filed a $75 million notice of claim against Westchester County and the City of New Rochelle, alleging he was following the instructions of property manager Mark Fonte when the accident occurred.
Mark Fonte is a realtor and property developer based in Yonkers. He is currently involved in the proposed Surf Club project on Davenport Neck in New Rochelle.
The notice of claim, filed Jan. 13, 2026, on behalf of Jose Candelario by attorney Natascia Ayers of Aviles Law Firm, PLLC, names Westchester County, the City of New Rochelle, the New Rochelle Industrial Development Agency and the City of New Rochelle Corporation for Local Development as respondents. It was received by the city’s Law Department on Jan. 20, 2026, according to a date stamp on the document.
According to the claim, the accident occurred on or about Nov. 4, 2025, at approximately 1 p.m. in a lower-level parking garage area restricted for judges at 26 Garden Street, New Rochelle, the site of the Westchester Family Courthouse. Candelario was “seriously and permanently injured including suffering severe burns and blindness” when he installed dry bleach and lye into a monitoring well pipe, the claim states.
Candelario was acting “as he was instructed to do by Mark Fonte, who is upon information and belief one of the property managers and property owners an agent of the property owner and/or manager,” according to the claim, which alleges Fonte directed him to put chemical powder substances down drains and pipes that smelled. The resulting exothermic combustion caused chemicals to erupt in Candelario’s face, “causing severe burns, deformity, and total blindness to both eyes,” the claim states.
The claim asserts Candelario was not informed that the pipes were monitoring well pipes for a brownfield site and was not negligent. It alleges negligent and reckless conduct by the respondents and, through vicarious liability, by third parties including Fonte, Simone Development, Stagg Group, MJ Garden LLC and related entities MJ Garden II through VI LLC, Mark Fonte Realty, Trifont Realty, Trifont Real Estate Management, Newman Design Architects PLLC and BE Bronx Builders LLC.
Among the allegations: failure to post warnings, failure to secure the monitoring well system, failure to provide protective equipment including eyewash stations, and failure to warn of the risk of “violent reaction, blowback, eruption, and/or explosive discharge” from the drain lines. The claim cites alleged violations of New York Labor Law §§200, 240 and 241, Industrial Code Rule 23, and federal OSHA rules, and describes the monitoring well operation as an “ultra hazardous activity” for which the respondents are strictly liable.
The notice also directs the respondents to preserve surveillance footage from one hour before through 12 hours after the accident, along with incident reports, witness statements, photographs, architectural drawings and chemical testing records related to the monitoring wells.
Candelario seeks $75 million in damages for burns, deformity, blindness in both eyes, headaches, dizziness and other injuries, and states he will require extensive medical care and will not be able to return to work.
The filing follows the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s revocation of the Brownfield Cleanup Program Certificate of Completion for the site, BCP Site No. C360180, after the agency classified the cause of the incident as deliberate. Albert J. Pirro Jr., an attorney representing site owner MJ Garden III LLC, has said Candelario was instructed to clean a drain, not a monitoring well, and has characterized the incident as “a most unfortunate accident.”
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This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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