In Re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether ("MTBE") Products Liability Litigation

Filing 3902

DECLARATION of Susan M. Dean in Opposition re: (318 in 1:08-cv-00312-SAS) MOTION for Summary Judgment as to Getty Property Corp.'s Third-Party Complaint.. Document filed by Getty Properties Corp.. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1, # 2 Exhibit 2, # 3 Exhibit 3, # 4 Exhibit 4, # 5 Exhibit 5, # 6 Exhibit 6, # 7 Exhibit 7, # 8 Exhibit 8, # 9 Exhibit 9, # 10 Exhibit 10, # 11 Exhibit 11, # 12 Exhibit 12, # 13 Exhibit 13)Filed In Associated Cases: 1:00-cv-01898-SAS-DCF, 1:08-cv-00312-SAS(McMeekin, John)

~~
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
LAYiI DIVISION - MIDDLESEX COUNTY
DOCKET NO.: MID-L-7781-07
H.P. DELTA, INC.,
Plaintiff

vs.

) DEPOSITION UPON
)
ORAL EXAMINATION

)
OF

ROBERT MELECCI,
Defendant/Tha.rd
-~----~, Party Plaintiff,

) ROBERT' MELECCI

vs.
V
DHANDT TRP,NSP4RT, INC.,
Third Party
Defendant.

)
)

~~

~~' .
,;.

TRANSCRIPT OF DEPOSITION, taken by and
before HETH STRP,USS, Professional Shorthand Reporter
and Notary Pubic, at the LAW OFFICES OF ~ARY,
BRIDE, TINKER & MORAN, P.C., 7 Ridgedale venue,
Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, on November 29, 2006,
commencing at 10:30 a.m.

ERSA COURT REPORTERS
30 SOUTH 17TH street
UNITED PLAZA - SUITE 1520
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103
PHONE (215) 5fi~--1233

ROBERT MELECCI
54
1 Mr, Ambrosio dated August 28, 2006, "Dear Mr. Singh:
2 This letter is to advise you that I have been
3 retained by your landlord Robert Melecai to deal
4 with the problems relating to the gasoline spill due
5 to the negligence of Dhandi Transport, Inc.
6

Apparently the spill occurred when the

7 employees of the transporter were in the process of
S delivery fuel oi]. at the premise which Delta leases
9 from Mx. Melecci."
~Q

Do you know what negligence of Dhandi

~ I1 Mr. Ambrosio is talka.ng about?
~~].z A.

Of spilling gas when being dispensed from

13 the trailer to the ground.
14 Q.

Did you ever see them spilling gas?

15 A.

Yes.

16 Q.

How often?

17 A.

Every time.

jg Q,

And how much was spilled?

19 A.

Z couldn't tell you.

2Q Q,

Well, I mean, are we talking about

21 truckloads or are we talking about a few gallons?
22 A .

I wou~.d not know.

23 Q.

How big are the -- you said that eaoh k~ple

24 was a bucket that collects overfill of gasoline; is
ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIAZES

ROBERT MELECCY
55
1 that right?

Each of your tanks?

2 A.

Yes.

3 Q.

About how many gallons does each of those

4 buckets hold; do you know?
i
5 A.

I believe they're five gallons.

6 Q.

Sa each tank can hold an overflow of about

7 five gallons; is that right?
$ A.

Yes.

9 Q.

And when you say they spilled gas every

10 time, wexe you there every time that they came to
1l. deliver?
12 A.

Evezy time I seen 'em, yes.

13 Q.

And haw often would that be?

14 A.

2'd say at least 60 percent of the time.

1S Q.

And how often are they at the site, do you

16 know?
l.7 A.

I couldn`t tell you.

~8 Q.

T mean, you're not responsib~.e for

~19 requesting fuel from Dhandi, right?

~ 20 A.

No.

21 Q.

That was H.P. Delta's responsibility, right?

2z A.

Yes.

23 Q.

You don't knave how often they were there, do

24 you?
ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES

ROBERT MELECCI
5'1
Well, lake if T made a deal wa.th Citgo or

1 A.

2 whatever, they had theix own truckers come.
And when they came, did you ever watch any

3 Q.

4 of their truckers have any blow-back or spa.11 any
5 fuel?
6 A.

No.

'7 Q.

Ever?

$ A.

Never.

9 Q.

When there was blow-back when Dhandi was

10 delivering, did it go into the overfill bucket?

11 A.

No.

12 Q.

Why not?

13 A.

Because they blew it out the vent pipes.

14 Q.

And where were the vent pipes located in

15 relation to where they were filling them?

And mark

16 on Melecci-1 with a letter C where the vent pipes
17 are.
18 A.

Right here.

~9 Q.

So you have marked on Melecci-1 with the

20 letter C the vent pipes to your five tanks?

21 A,

Yes.

22 4•

And when they would overfill, the fuel would

23 some out the vent pipe.

Zs that what you're telling

24 me?
ELECTRONIC REP4RTTNG STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES

ROBERT MELECCI
:; I
1 A.

Yes.

2 Q.

About how far away are the vent pipes from

3 area B that has been delineated here in terms of
4 feet if you know?
S A.

Twenty-fi.ve feet.

6 Q.

Okay.

So the vent pipe blow--back that

'J you're talking about occurs 25 feet from area B
$ which has been identified by the DEP as the area of
9 concern; is that right?
10 A.

Yes.

~,]. Q.

Did they spill anything onto the concrete or

12 the hard surfaces?

13 A.

Yes.

],4 Q.

The vent pipes, are they surrounded by

15 concxete or any hard surfaces?
~( A.

No.

17 Q.

What's around them?

~$ A.

Crushed stone.

19 Q.

And how much approximately came out of the

20 vent pipes?
I couldn't tell you.

21 A.

As far as gallons you

22 mean?
Well, are we talking about a lot or a

23 Q.

24 little?
ELECTRONIC REPORTIlVG STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES

ROBERT MELECCT
65
1 Q.

This guy here, Gurmail Singh?

Z A.

Yes.
NIIt. JONES:

3
4

Let's mark this as

Melecci-9.
(Document dated ~7'~nuary 22, 2007

5
~

received and marked as Melecci--4 fox

']

Identification.)

$ BY I~. JONES
g Q.

Mr. Melecci, I'm showing you what has been

10 marked as Melecci-4.

It's a January 22nd, 2007

11 letter written by your attorney, Mr. Ambrosio, to
12 Stuart Lieberman, Esquire.
~3

Do you ever recall seeing this letter?

14 A.

Yes.

15 Q.

And what was the content of this letter ar

16 the subject of this letter?
17 A.

The reason for spill.

1$ Q.

Okay.

And it reports that from the letter,

19 "Tha.s letter is to advise you that on Wednesday,
20 January 17, 2007, my client, Robert Melecci, the
21 owner of Rob's Towing Service observed a delivery
22 being made sometime in the afternoon by your
23 client's gasoline transportation delivery service.
24 During the delivery, gasoline spilled on the ground
ELECTRUI~IIC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFFLIATES

ROBERT MEL,ECCI
66
1 and pooled underneath the truck."
2

Do you recall this incident?

3 A.

Yes.

4 Q.

Do yQu have an idea of about how much

5 gasoline spilled?
6 Pi.

Yes.

'7 Q.

When you say it pooled underneath the trunk,

$ was anything done to clean it up?
9 A.

No.

Well, actually, yeah.

He kicked snow

10 on it so I wouldn't see it.
11

Ngt. PENTANGELO:

12

THE WITNESS:

Who is the he?

The driver.

13 BY MR. JONES:
14 Q.

Were you watching him do all of tha.s?

15 ~.

x just happened to come in off the road from

16 a tow, and I seen the truck, and the first thing I
17 do is look over to see ~f they got the vapor covered
18 'pause they only opened up.
19 Q•

What do you mean only opened up?

20 A.

They came back.

They closed down for a

2~ couple months.
22 Q,

Dhandi was?

23 A.

No, H.P.

24 Q.

Okay.
ELECTRONIC REPORTING STENOGRA.PFIIC AFFILIATES

ROBERT MELECCI
67 ~
And then I was watcha.ng 'em, and T notzced

1 A.

2 all fuel underneath the trailex.
3 4.

Okay.

4 A.

And I told 'em, I says you got to do

5 something here, we gat problems, and he just turned
6 axour~d and kicked snow on it and left.
Did you do anything to clear► 3t up

'7 Q,

S afterwards?
I told the gas pumper.

9 A.
10 Q.

And did he do anything?

~.]. A.

Notified the boss.

Z~ Q.

And did they do anything?

13 A.

No.

14 Q.

Was the fire department ever called?

15 A.

z don't know, no.

16 Q.

How big of a spill are we talking about

17 underneath the truck?

How much fuel?

18 A.

I oouldn't tel]. you that.

~9 Q.

Did you believe it was a hazard just from a

2Q safety standpoint?
I just notified them and let them know

21 A.
22 that -23 Q.

Right, I understand that, but did you

24 believe at the time that it was a safety hazard?
ELECTRONIC REPORTING STEI~OGRAP~iIC AFFILIATES

ROBERT MELECCI
68
1 Was it enough fuel to create a concern a.n your mind
2 that I got gasolzne laying over here?
__- ..
Yes.
3 A.
And did you do anything about it?

4 Q.

Other

5 than to call various peop~.e to teXl them about it,
6 did you take any kind of remediation efforts?
'] A.

No.

$ Q,

Did you get a cloth out there or contact

9 anybody to clean it up?

Just H,P. Delta and your

1p attozney?
11 A.

Yes.

12 Q.

Okay.

13 A.

And they would get in contact with the

14 driver.
15 Q.

But nothing was done to the best of your

16 knowledge?

17 A.

No.

18 Q.

Okay.

Prior to August of 2006, did you

19 report any of these spills -- strike that.
20

Did you see spills by Dhandi prior to August

21 of 2006?

22 A.

Yes.

23 Q •

While delivera.ng?

24 A.

Yes.
ELECTR~NTC REPORTING STENOGRAPHIC AFFILIATES