Crime / New York City Family of Swine Flu Victim Suing NYC for $40M Says city didn't provide a safe workplace for assistant principal By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff Posted Aug 12, 2009 9:29 AM CDT Copied Anita Seeratan, 13, an 8th grader at the Susan B. Anthony middle school, holds up a copy of the 2005 yearbook open to the page with the photograph of assistant Principal Mitchell Weiner, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) The family of Mitchell Weiner, a Queens middle school assistant principal who died in May after contracting H1N1, is suing New York City for $40 million, arguing that it didn’t provide a safe workplace, the New York Daily News reports. They also contend that the city didn’t notify Weiner that he’d come in contact with people who had the virus soon enough. Asked about the case, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “You know, everybody can sue everybody. The city didn’t do anything wrong. We have to make decisions, which schools are open or closed. Our obligation is to keep schools open.” (More New York City stories.) Report an error