Crane Owner Is Acquitted in Criminal Trial Over Collapse

This story, in slightly different form, originally appeared in the New York Law Journal.

NEW YORK CITY-Acting Supreme Court Justice Daniel Conviser in Manhattan yesterday acquitted a construction crane owner and his companies of criminal charges for the May 2008 collapse of a crane that killed two workers at an E. 91st Street construction site. The owner, James Lomma, opted for a non-jury trial, which lasted two months. The judge did not announce a reasoning for his verdict from the bench.

Lomma faced up to 15 years for manslaughter and other charges. The two workers' families also have filed a civil suit against Lomma and others in connection with the collapse of the 200-foot-tall crane.

Paul Shechtman of Zuckerman Spaeder, who helped represent Lomma and his companies, said the verdict was bittersweet considering that two men died in the accident. "It is very important for our society that we make a sharp difference between the civil and the criminal," Shechtman said. "I don't know how this case is going to play out in the civil forum. But when you condemn someone criminally and, indeed, when you threaten them with jail sanctions, their conduct should be quite egregious. I think anybody looking at this record would say the conduct wasn't egregious."

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement that he was disappointed with the verdict. Prosecutors had focused attention on crane construction, which prompted safety improvements.