Family of NYCHA worker killed by falling tree files $75 million notice of claim against NYC

The family of a NYCHA employee who was killed by a falling tree in Brooklyn has filed a $75 million notice of claim against New York City and the Parks Department. 

Leighton Brown, 56, was killed when the tree fell at the Cypress Hills Houses on Euclid Avenue and Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn amid a nor'easter. 

"People at Cypress Hills Houses remember Leighton making repairs before his shift even began. In Canarsie, his neighbors knew him as the friend who would fix a door or DJ a backyard gathering. That's the man his family lost. It's an honor to represent them," family attorney Nicholas Liakas said. 

In the notice of claim, attorneys for Brown claim the city and Parks Department were previously warned about the tree's condition and didn't address it sufficiently or warn people in the area. 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani mourned Brown at the time in a post on social media, calling his death an "unimaginable loss" and saying "may his service to our city never be forgotten."