Tenants in Storm-Damaged Lower Manhattan Are Filing Lawsuits Tenants and managers in Lower Manhattan's flooded, powerless buildings have been at loggerheads over the slow pace of recovery since the storm hit. But until this week, they kept their disagreements in the family. But now Jonathan Stark, 42, a condominium owner at 88 Greenwich near Battery Park City, has gone to court. Mr. Stark filed a $35 million lawsuit on Monday accusing the board and managers of failing to safeguard the building against floods they knew were coming, then blocked residents' attempts to file insurance claims. Managers have told residents they could not return for four months, but offered little other information, he said. "My ultimate goal was to get this board to do their job, to get Cooper Square to do their job, and if anything financial comes out of it - people's lives have been damaged, their personal property, their homes have been damaged," Mr. Stark said on Wednesday. I couldn't live any longer and watch this board operate inefficiently. His lawsuit could signal a deluge of litigation to come: Mr. Stark said several other residents at 88 Greenwich were searching for lawyers. The same day Mr. Stark filed his suit, residents at 2 Gold Street and its sister tower, 201 Pearl, in the financial district, filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the buildings' managers and owners had neglected to secure the buildings before and after the hurricane. Michael Cashwell and David Barker, the plaintiffs, said the buildings' developer and managers had not put down sandbags or otherwise readied the building for a flood. When residents came back to retrieve their belongings in the days after the storm, they said, some found their doors open and personal items missing; the building also reeked of fuel spilled when water crushed a basement tank. A spokeswoman for TF Cornerstone, 2 Gold's management company, declined to comment. But in updates posted to 2 Gold's Web site, the company said that the building's floodgates, built to withstand a 12-foot storm surge, had been overwhelmed by the "historical level of flooding." TF Cornerstone had temporarily moved some tenants to other buildings and allowed others to break their leases, the Web site said. At 88 Greenwich, Mr. Stark said building managers had e-mailed residents the day Hurricane Sandy hit, telling them to expect six feet of flooding in the lobby, yet had not made any efforts to move gym equipment or protect other ground- or basement-level rooms. After the storm, the board told condo owners that they had to file for insurance under their own policies, but did not respond to insurers' requests to inspect the building, Mr. Stark said. David Kuperberg, Cooper Square's chief executive., said he could not comment on pending litigation, but issued a statement saying that Cooper Square was cooperating with insurance adjusters and making progress under difficult circumstances. "While Cooper Square Realty did not cause this storm, the company is doing everything within its power to devise solutions that will help our managed properties return to normal operations as expeditiously as possible," he said in the statement. City Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who represents the area, said, "We are working with Con Edison and city agencies to help get buildings open, but building management companies have to be responsive."