A Yonkers hauling company that helped clear the rubble of the World Trade Center sued the city yesterday, claiming it was stiffed out of $3 million.
Joe Attonito, who runs Whitney Trucking, said the city never set a rate and did not tell him he was charging too much until after his own 20 trucks – along with 60 trucks and crew he subcontracted – hauled away debris from 7 World Trade Center.
Attonito said the going rate for the operation – which ran 24 hours a day for eight weeks – would be $300 an hour, but he cut it to $200 out of patriotism.
“They didn’t complain about my bills until the job was over,” Attonito said. “If I don’t get paid very, very soon, I’m going to be in big, big trouble.”
The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court, alleges the city, by not setting a firm price, induced Whitney to stay on the job – and then withheld half the $6 million tab.
John Spavins, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Design and Construction, which was named in the suit, declined to comment.
Whitney was hired by Seasons Construction, a subcontractor of Turner Construction, the company acting as the project manager for the cleanup.
Turner, which was named as a co-defendant, did not return a call for comment.
Attonito said he had to hire nine office workers and buy new computers to fill out all the city’s paperwork.
Attonito’s lawyer, Michele Bonsignore, said the small firm is besieged by calls from smaller subcontractors seeking payment.
“The worst part of the whole thing is we don’t have an answer to give them,” she said.