FDNY Firefighter's Widow Reaches $10M Settlement

May 20, 2012
Bovis Lend Lease has agreed to pay Firefighter Joseph Graffagnino's wife and two children $9M while the city will pay another $1M in the fire that killed him and Firefighter Robert Beddia in 2007.

The widow of a fallen FDNY firefighter killed in the 2007 Deutsche Bank fire has reached a $10 million settlement with the city and the contractor held responsible in the incident.

Bovis Lend Lease has agreed to pay Firefighter Joseph Graffagnino's wife and two children $9 million while the city will pay another $1 million, according to The Daily News.

A Manhattan Supreme Court justice still has to approve the settlement at a hearing that is slated for Monday.

Graffagnino and Firefighter Robert Beddia were killed on Aug. 18, 2007 after becoming trapped in a 14th floor stairwell during the blaze in the former Deutche Bank building that sits next to the World Trade Center and was damaged during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Beddia's family settled two years ago for $6 million.

An investigation in the fire found safety lapses by the Bovis, its subcontractor, John Galt Co. and city and state agencies.

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