On Monday, Van Syoc sent letters to acting Mayor William "Speedy" Marsh and city attorney Anthony A. Swan asking them to intervene. Swan wrote back on the same day, saying that Pinnacle's attorney assured the city that "all hazardous materials have been removed from the Sands properties that are being demolished."

"According to Van Syoc, Barth has been left with no other choice but to file the litigation because Pinnacle ignored his requests in the past four weeks to prove that the Sands no longer contains asbestos.

"We've been asking for this stuff since Sept. 19, when we first made a request for it," Van Syoc said. "That is plenty of time to prove that my clients aren't going to be poisoned by asbestos."

On Sept. 8, Barth wrote to the city engineer to complain that demolition work at the Sands had spread dust that was making life unbearable for Park Lane's guests and employees. Barth also claimed that the city had granted Pinnacle "carte blanche" approval to raze the casino, without the proper government oversight.

This is not the first time complaints have been made about the implosion. Last week, an environmental consultant sent a letter to Gov. Jon S. Corzine warning of possible health dangers and asking for the state to stop the event.