NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (July 21, 2026) — The New Rochelle worker who was blinded in a chemical explosion at the Westchester Family Courthouse parking garage has filed a formal lawsuit in Bronx County Supreme Court seeking damages from Mark Fonte and 12 companies tied to the site, escalating a claim first raised in a Notice of Claim filed against local government entities earlier this year.
Jose Candelario filed the lawsuit, Index No. 809291/2026E, on May 12, 2026, naming as defendants Mark Fonte, Trifont Realty LLC, MJ Garden LLC, MJ Garden II LLC, MJ Garden III LLC, Stagg Group LLC, Simone Development Corporation, Simone Development Company L.L.C., Front Door Management Corp., Hutch Management LLC, BE Bronx Builders LLC, Newman Design Architects PLLC, and The Mark 95, LLC. The case is currently in the pre-litigation pleadings stage, with no justice yet assigned.
A Notice of Claim is a distinct, earlier-stage legal document, required under New York law before a person can sue a government entity such as a county, city or municipal agency. Candelario’s Notice of Claim, filed Jan. 13, 2026, and received by the City of New Rochelle’s Law Department on Jan. 20, 2026, named 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, seeking $75 million in damages. That notice referenced Fonte, Simone Development, Stagg Group, several MJ Garden entities and “Newman architects” as third parties allegedly responsible for the underlying negligence, but it did not name any of them as defendants, since a notice of claim’s purpose is to provide formal notice to a government body of an intent to sue, not to a private company or individual.
The complaint filed in Bronx Supreme Court is a separate, second legal filing brought directly against the private companies and individual Candelario says bear responsibility for his injuries. Unlike the Notice of Claim, it does not name Westchester County or the City of New Rochelle as defendants.
According to the complaint, the accident occurred on Nov. 4, 2025, at approximately 12:30 p.m., while Candelario was on a ramp leading to the secured parking area at 26 Garden Street, New Rochelle, designated for judges. The complaint states Candelario was “seriously and permanently injured, sustained severe facial burns and scars and was rendered blind in both eyes as a result of an exothermic reaction to a combination of dry lye and dry bleach which was poured into a pipe leading into the Brownfield Site monitoring well, at the direction of, and per the explicit instructions of the defendant, Mark Fonte, who provided the aforesaid lye and bleach for use.”
The complaint alleges Fonte told Candelario an unpleasant odor was coming from the garage’s drainpipes and instructed him to clean them using powdered lye and bleach, and that Fonte told Candelario the pipe was a drainpipe. The complaint states Candelario and a colleague went to perform the task together: the colleague poured bleach into the drain, and as Candelario then poured in the lye, “there was an instantaneous exothermic reaction which caused the chemicals to blow back into the plaintiff’s face.”
The complaint states there were “no signs, warnings or other insignia” indicating the pipe was part of a Brownfield Site monitoring well, and that the well was “not segregated, secured, locked, cordoned off or secured in any way.” It alleges the defendants failed to provide protective equipment, training or warnings, and describes the monitoring well and pipe system as an “ultra-hazardous activity for which they are strictly liable.” The complaint cites alleged violations of New York Labor Law §§200, 240 and 241, provisions of the Industrial Code including 12 NYCRR 23-1.7, and OSHA rules.
Newman Design Architects PLLC is named as the firm that “designed the construction of the parking lot” adjacent to the courthouse, including the Brownfield Site. BE Bronx Builders, LLC is named as the general contractor for that construction.
As of June 18, 2026, only Simone Development Corporation, Simone Development Company, L.L.C., and Hutch Management LLC had answered the complaint, through their attorney Jeffrey C. Fegan of Clyde & Co US LLP. Their answer denies the substantive allegations and raises 17 affirmative defenses, including that Candelario was a “recalcitrant worker,” that his own conduct was the sole proximate cause of the accident, that he was performing “unauthorized work,” and that Bronx County is an “improper venue” for the case, arguing it should be moved to Westchester County. The same defendants also filed cross-claims against Fonte and the remaining co-defendants, seeking indemnification or contribution should they be found liable.
Newman Design Architects PLLC has not yet answered the complaint. Under a stipulation filed June 29, 2026, between the firm’s attorney, Steven Montgomery of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, and Candelario’s attorney, Natascia Ayers of Aviles Law Firm, PLLC, the firm’s time to respond was extended to July 27, 2026, and it agreed not to raise improper service as a defense.
Because no Request for Judicial Intervention has been filed, no justice has yet been assigned to the case, and it is not yet subject to the court’s automated e-Track notification system.
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.” The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation revoked the Brownfield Cleanup Program Certificate of Completion for the site, BCP Site No. C360180, after classifying the cause of the November 2025 incident as deliberate, and made a criminal referral.
*Editor’s note: Talk of the Sound’s earlier reporting on this matter drew on Jose Candelario’s Notice of Claim, which referred generically to “Newman architects” among the parties allegedly responsible for the incident. That reporting was accurate to the source document. After publication, a firm by that name contacted this publication to say it was not the entity involved. Talk of the Sound told the firm we would make a correction if provided a legal basis for one. Counsel for the firm then supplied the Verified Complaint filed in Bronx County Supreme Court on May 12, 2026, which identifies the correct defendant as Newman Design Architects, PLLC — a filing this publication had not previously located, as our searches had focused on Westchester County Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, not anticipating the case would be filed in Bronx County. Talk of the Sound corrected the earlier article accordingly and, in reviewing the Bronx filing, is now reporting on the underlying lawsuit for the first time.*
*Readers may also notice two other differences between the Notice of Claim and the Bronx complaint. First, the Notice of Claim named Westchester County, the City of New Rochelle and related municipal entities, while the Bronx lawsuit does not name any of them as defendants. Under state law, a Notice of Claim must be filed within 90 days of an incident, often before an attorney has fully determined who bears legal responsibility; it is common practice to name any government entity with a plausible connection to preserve the option to sue later, even if a narrower lawsuit is ultimately filed against other parties. Second, the Notice of Claim states damages of $75 million, while the Bronx complaint states only that damages exceed the jurisdictional limits of the lower courts. State law requires a Notice of Claim to state a specific dollar figure, since it functions as formal notice and a settlement demand to the municipality. By contrast, state law (CPLR §3017(c)) generally prohibits personal injury lawsuits filed in New York courts from stating a specific dollar figure in the complaint itself, which is why the Bronx filing omits one.*
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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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