AP Fatal collapse in New York City killed two workers at a jobsite. Competing claims of prosecutorial overreach and reckless disregard for human life left no middle ground in the final arguments in New York City equipment executive James Lomma's criminal trial. Defense attorneys and prosecutors traded heated allegations in closing statements on April 19 and 20. The case is linked to the fatal 2008 collapse of a tower crane Lomma rented to a high-rise jobsite.Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Daniel Conviser said he would deliver a verdict on April 26. The defense had requested a bench, or non-jury, trial.The owner of

Lawyers for embattled New York crane rental executive James Lomma used their closing arguments on April 19 to poke holes in the  “morality play” they claim prosecutors presented of their client—as a man whose greed and carelessness led to the deaths of two construction workers, crane operator Donald C. Leo and sewer worker Ramadan Kurtaj, in a 2008 Manhattan crane collapse.Prosecutors will make their last arguments in Lomma's criminal case in the late afternoon on April 20, at which time Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Daniel Conviser will decide the case without a jury, upon the defense’s request.Lomma, CEO of two

Two final court dates have been set for mid-April in the negligent homicide trial of James F. Lomma, the owner of the Kodiak tower crane whose fatal collapse killed two workers in Manhattan nearly four years ago. For more than a month, the owner of the equipment rental firm has been the focus of charges that say he was responsible for the 2008 deaths of union crane operator Donald Leo and sewer worker Ramadan Kurtaj.With the prosecution resting its case, Lomma's attorneys began calling as witnesses in late March two crane forensic engineering experts employed by Haag Engineering. The defense

A former chief inspector of New York City's buildings department may have incriminated himself twice while testifying in a criminal case against a crane executive—who was also his former boss. That was the view of lawyers for the victims of a fatal 2008 Manhattan crane collapse, for which James Lomma is on trial. He is accused of negligent homicide and other charges in the high-rise accident that killed operator Donald Leo and sewer worker Ramadan Kurtaj.Prosecutors believe the crane supplied by Lomma had a poorly repaired turntable. In his testimony, Michael Carbone, the former regulator and onetime employee of a

Tudor Van Hampton Crane supplier James Lomma. Related Links: N.Y. Crane Collapse Defendant Quietly Changes Plea to Guilty Crane Owner Criminal Trial To Start in November for Fatal Collapse Probers Believe Crane Turntable Weld Had Role in Disaster Jurors Issue Second Acquittal in Deutsche Bank Fire Trial Another high-profile criminal trial linked to fatalities on a New York City construction site began Feb. 21. Prosecutors and defense attorneys offered vastly different views in a Manhattan courtroom about whether equipment rental executive James L. Lomma should be held liable for the damage caused by the collapse of one of his cranes,

A crane mechanic who was co-defendant in a negligent homicide case stemming from a fatal 2008 tower crane collapse in New York City quietly changed his plea to guilty last month and has promised to help prosecutors convict his former boss, who owned the crane and its rental firm, New York Crane.The Oct. 5 plea change in New York State Supreme Court by Tibor Varganyi, 65, came about one month before his trial and that of his former boss, James F. Lomma, 65, were set to start. New York County Supreme Court Judge Thomas Farber granted Varganyi's plea change request

A Manhattan jury and a presiding state Supreme Court judge soon will decide whether three construction managers on trial since April for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in a fatal high-rise fire will face jail time. After 10 weeks of testimony and attorney summations that differed sharply on who was to blame for the 2007 Deutsche Bank blaze in which two New York City firefighters died, jurors began deliberating on June 16. They are weighing the fates of two of the defendants: site safety manager Jeffrey Melofchik, 49, a former executive of project contractor Bovis Lend Lease, and Salvatore DePaola,

Legal PHOTO BY TOM SAWYER FOR ENR BLACKOUT The site of a fatal 2007 fire, the Deutsche Bank was finally demolished in January. After the prosecution wrapped its case on June 1 after nearly two months of argument in the manslaughter trial of three New York City construction managers for a fatal Manhattan building fire in 2007, defense attorneys insisted a reasonable jury could not blame their clients.State Supreme Court Justice Rena K. Uviller conceded the defense raised “very important issues” in its June 2 motion to toss criminal charges against their clients—Jeffrey Melofchik, Mitchel Alvo and Salvatore DePaola and

After the prosecution wrapped its case on June 1 after nearly two months of argument in the manslaughter trial of three New York City construction managers for a fatal Manhattan building fire in 2007, defense attorneys insisted a reasonable jury could not blame their clients. Photo by Tom Sawyer The site of a fatal 2007 fire that killed two firefighters, the Deutsche Bank building was finally demolished in January 2011. State Supreme Court Justice Rena K. Uviller conceded the defense raised “very important issues” in its June 2 motion to toss criminal charges against their clients—Jeffrey Melofchik, Mitchel Alvo and

New York City's Economic Development Corp. has reacted strongly to a new audit by the city comptroller that says the agency allowed locally-based Turner Construction Co. to rack up more than $3 million in "dubious" payments on a construction and facilities management contract. The comptroller says the contract had ballooned to nearly $74 million from $7.5 million in three years. It involved a variety of projects, including a garage and pedestrian protection during pier repairs. "We are disappointed that after a 16-month review, the Comptroller's Office has issued an audit report that is flawed, misleading and draws unsupported conclusions,” said