In an April 11, 2012 article, the legal publication Law360 focused on arguments made by Venable partner Kostas Katsiris during a hearing concerning an appeal of an order dismissing Venable client LVI Environmental Services from a lawsuit involving the deconstruction of the former Deutsche Bank Building, which was badly damaged during the 9/11 attacks. The owner of two hotels near the World Trade Center site had sued LVI and nine other defendants in New York state court to recover profits allegedly lost because of activities related to the deconstruction. Last September, a judge dismissed LVI from the suit.
Arguing on behalf of LVI before a five-judge panel of New York’s Appellate Division, Katsiris asserted that the construction site in question was "one of the most heavily regulated job sites" ever. Katsiris also argued that the complained-of conduct, including the grinding of concrete at street level and the temporary placement of a crane at the deconstruction site, were normal construction activities that could not support tort liability under applicable law. Law360 quoted Katsiris as stating that “the concrete grinding activities were no different at 130 Liberty than innumerable other construction sites across the city” and that the hotel owner’s complaint “didn’t propose alternative placements for the crane or allege that the proper permits were not obtained.”