. >> reporter: two weeks ago marvin montgomery was a 36-year- old healthy father who made a modest living handing out fliers for an electronics firm right outside of lincoln hospital in the south bronx. now he's here at harlem hospital, on dialysis, too weak to even hold a fork and recovering from a near fatal bout of legionnaire's. adam slater's client is one of the 101 people in the south bronx who have tested positive for legionnaire's disease, marvin montgomery is just 36 years old and he's a smoker but he was never sick until this. >> he almost died. you know, his doctors told me it was touch and go when i spoke to them for a while. luckily he's going to live, so if he is that -- >> reporter: said the city ignored its responsibility to respect and safeguard cooling towers and so he says it's the sick. >> had they been proactive rather than reactive we wouldn't be sitting here. >> and your client wouldn't be sitting in a hospital. >> unable to walk and on dialysis. >> must get out there, root out the problem, cut it off at the source and prevent further spread so that everyone obvious

right now marvin montgomery is focused on staying alive. >> you know, it's a step up from not living, but he's in very bad shape. >> reporter: his lawyer tells news 4, montgomery is on dialysis and can barely walk. having not been a heavy smoker, montgomery can only guess he's contracted legionnaires' disease from here, the cooling towers at lincoln hospital, which tested positive for the bacteria last week. >> where the disease harms sick and infirm people, the hospital had a special duty, in my opinion, to make sure that this bacteria wasn't present, they did not live up to that standard. >> reporter: so now they're suing the hospital, operated by the city. slater blames the city for dragging its feet for what's now become an outbreak that has sickened dozens and killed ten. >> this was a preventible catastrophe. >> reporter: that sentiment shared by a suffolk county family family family we recently talked to. james rouse, a teacher, lied from legionnaires' disease in april. his family reported the death to the city. now they want to know if this outbreak could have been prevented.

this is marvin montgomery. he used to spend a lot of time ound lincoln h pital and now he's in arlem hospital fighting legionnaires'. his lawyer filed a claim, accusing the city of dragging their feet on this, a disease which he says is completely preventable. >> i think it's terrle. they moved very slowly. they weren't proactive in the beginning. they weren't proactive before, you know, before this outbreak. with proper monitoring, this colyulrehave all been prevented. they certainly did not live up to that standard. >> surely, a lot of frustration coming from him. in the next half an hour, we're going to get an update about th r conversations with the state. what happens next in the evention process. what happens next in the combating of this outbreak. member, yesterday, health officials from the city said they do think they found the source of this outbreak. agai mor questions will be ang.swered very shortly. i'm live here in midtown. >>> a mother and her two young daughters fighting for their lives after be

including marvin montgomery. he's planning to file a $10 million lawsuit against the city. a new requirement going into effect today, saying all building owners in new york city must test and disinfect cooling towers within 14 days. the governor acknowledging authorities have to go building by building. telling new york 1 -- >> we don't know where the cooling towers are. >> reporter: but experts say each cooling tower can take up to two days to clean. >> it's going to be quite a task. it could be thousands of these towers all over the city. >> reporter: this as we learn two other people in michigan and ohio died of legionnaires' disease. officials tonight say those cases are not related to those here in new york. but they're confident the number of incidents are winding down. >> thanks. we can't underscore that enough, the two cases in two other states, not believed to be connected. but 18,000 cases every year? >> well, it's not clear how much is due to increased testing, or a rise in the disease. but some are calling for changes in testing. but it takes a big outbreak like

blocks of one another tested positive for legionella bacteria in the south bronx. 36-year-old marvin montgomery believes he contracted legionnaire's from the contaminated tower at lincoln hospital. he has lawyered up and plans to sue the city-run hospital. >> we think lincoln hospital breached its duty to adequately check, you know, the environmental systems for legionella. >> reporter: montgomery had a job passing out flyers outside of the hospital and would often go inside to use the bathroom. in addition to money, he wants accountability from new york city officials. >> he is irate. he feels that, you know, they had notice of this. and they just were dragging their feet. >> reporter: now the state has stepped in getting ready to put a team on the ground in the bronx to help test cooling towers, this after bronx borough president ruben diaz bypass city hall and went to the governor. are you surprised that he went to cuomo than coming to the city? >> the bronx borough president is responsible for his, um, his borough, his neighborhood. and this is a collaborative endeavour. >> reporter: sittin

. >> the attorney for 36-year-old marvin montgomery says his client got sick from the can tam nateed water tower from lincoln hospital. he plans to sue new york city for $10 million the outbreak the most severe they have ever seen. they have ordered the state health department to take action. >> we are starting a massive testing effort in that immediate vicinity where we will send people out to test these cooling towers to determine if they are a source of the bacteria or not. health officials say you can't get legionnaires' disease from person to person contact. in the recent cases people have gotten it from breathing in mist from those towers. in the mont haven section, cbs 2 news. >>> thank you. we're following developing news in mali where 12 people were killed during a stand off with islamic extremists. this happened inside a central mali hotel frequented by u.n. workers, soldiers rescued 4 u.n. employees who hid in the hotel for nearly 24 hours during the attack. 5 soldiers, a u.n. contractor and three hotel staff members are among those dead. three jihadis were also killed the

air- conditioning within 10 blocks of each other tested positive for the bacteria. 36-year-old marvin montgomery believes he contaminated he contracted it from the hospital. he plans to sue new york city for $10 million. >> we think the hospital breached its duty to adequately check the environmental systems. >>> the state is taking action hoping to stop this outbreak. >> we are starting a massive testing effort in that immediate vicinity where we will actually have a coordinated testing program where we will send people out to test these cooling towers to determine if they are a source of the bacteria or not. >> as we mentioned in this story, lincoln hospital did have a contaminated water tower. there is no need to panic because this disease is treatable and preventable. cbs 2 news. >>> thank you. new this morning, police in longbeach california schott and killed a man they say stabbed 6 people last night. one of the stabbing victims was treated and released the other five rushed to near by hospital in conditions ranging from nonserious to critical. it is not clear what led to the stabbings. >>

. >> reporter: marvin montgomery is 36 years ago and works near lincoln hospital, one of the places that had a cooling tower that tested positive for legionella. his lawyer says since the city owns the hospital, it is the city that was negligent for not maintaining the water system properly. >> there are certain checks that they are supposed to be doing, osha recommended checks and i don't believe the city was complying with those. >> because once they actually started looking for it, they found it without a problem? >> exactly. >> reporter: that man recovering here at harlem hospital but still so weak, he can't even lift a fork. the one case that was added to the list of people with legionnaire's disease yesterday was actually diagnosed several days ago. just wasn't added to the list until now. but the curve as they say is going in the right direction. reporting live from harlem hospital, jim dolan, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> that is encouraging to hear. thank you. >>> officials in new jersey have released a name of the swimmer whose body was found this morning in the waters off sand