James “King of Cranes” Lomma
Just days before the seventh anniversary of a deadly Upper East Side crane collapse, the victims’ families won a major court ruling that allows them to go after the wealthy equipment owner’s personal assets.
The ruling in what has become the city’s longest-running civil trial will allow a jury to decide whether multimillionaire “King of Cranes’’ James Lomma should be held personally liable for the deaths of crane operator Donald Leo and construction worker Ramadan Kurtaj.
The men died after one of Lomma’s Kodiak tower cranes crashed down on East 91st Street on May 30, 2008.
The court decision found that Lomma, as head of NY Crane & Equipment Co., personally approved the vendor who supplied a substandard bearing on the crane and that he employed an immigrant with an eighth-grade education to oversee its operation.
“If there was a case that cried out for the award of punitive damages to deter conduct posing a threat to public safety, this is it,” said Kurtaj family lawyer Susan Karten.
Lomma, 69, lives in a $1 million home on Staten Island and owns a 52-foot Hatteras yacht.
The jury will decide whether to hit Lomma with punitive damages on top of compensatory damages.
Author:
Julia Marsh
Source:
http://nypost.com/2015/06/01/victims-families-can-sue-king-of-cranes-over-deadly-2008-crash/
