Barton-Barnes, Inc. v. State

*5OPINION OF THE COURT

Mahoney, J.

In 1980, Wesley Pawlowski leased a car from Kresge Leasing Corporation. During the early morning hours of February 5, 1981, when the car was parked in the basement of a State office building in the City of Binghamton, Broome County, a fire erupted in a transformer which contained the chemical pyranyl. The heat generated by the fire converted the pyranyl into polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dibenzofurans (furans) and dibenzodioxins (dioxins) which spread throughout the building. All of these chemicals are considered toxic at low levels. Initial testing…