Her fatalistic views may lead to her own death.
The Murray Hill actress and skin cancer survivor claims that excessive exposure to UV rays from the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows in her $6.2 million luxury apartment overlooking the East River caused lesions on her face.
“For several years I have found myself in the surreal situation of unknowingly exposing myself to deadly UV rays during the sun’s strongest hours, yet thinking I was safe,” Jennifer Betit Yen wrote. April Blog Posts About the fight against the owners and developers of 685 First Avenue, a 43-story skyscraper near East 40th Street.
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Yen, 48, and her husband, lawyer and film producer Jay Payton Worley, 46, are in the gorgeous 2,984 square feet In their lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the couple said they purchased the four-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom home in November 2021. “All exterior walls have floor-to-ceiling glass windows.”
They are seeking $8 million in damages.
Yen, who hosts the show “Film Lab Presents” and has appeared in TV shows such as “Royal Pains,” said he repeatedly questioned building officials about whether the house was UV-protected, especially since he himself had previously battled melanoma.
The couple claim that representatives from developer Solovyov Building and the building’s board of directors repeatedly told them the unit was “100 percent UV-resistant.”
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But in the lawsuit, they claim the guarantee is a “complete fabrication.”
Two and a half years later, “suspicious lesions” were found on the side of Yen’s face, the area most exposed to a glass window in her home office, she said in the lawsuit.
On his website, Yen describes himself as “an actor, author and former lawyer.”
The couple also noticed “discoloration and fading of carpeting, artwork and furniture” that would not have occurred without the UV rays, according to the lawsuit.
The inspection revealed “significant UV radiation entering the unit through at least four separate sliding glass windows, floor-to-ceiling wall panels and two separate patio doors,” including the living room, family room and home office, the couple alleged in their lawsuit.
“About a third of the glass in the lab where I work every day sits in direct sunlight, so I thought it was safe, but it turns out it’s heavily exposed to UV rays and unprotected,” Yen wrote in a blog post. “This is like telling a fair-skinned person that they’ll be fine sitting on a sunny beach if they use this sunscreen, but then giving them a bottle of baby oil instead of sunscreen.”
Although the most recent lesions had tested negative for cancer, melanoma survivors are at increased risk of recurrence, she said.
“The true impact may not be known for some time,” Yen wrote in a blog post, adding: “Had I known the truth I could and would have protected myself! I would have installed solar film like I did at my previous house.”
A lawyer for the Solovyov Group told The Washington Post that the couple should have had a UV inspection done before signing a contract for the apartment.
“If it was that important they should have tested it to their satisfaction,” lawyer Alex Estes said, adding that Yen & Wally “bought it at a very low price.” [UV testing] “Amazon sent me the device but said there was a problem. They should have tested it and verified it before they closed.”
Solovyov Group CEO Michael Hirschman said the lawsuit was “baseless.”
“An independent expert inspected the windows and found the protection to be up to standard, and we firmly refute these unfounded allegations,” Hirschman added.
