New York Construction Accident Law Blog : New York Construction Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Turley, Redmond & Rosasco Law Firm : Injuries & Scaffold Accidents : Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Nassau, Suffolk, Bronx, Staten Island

photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Kudos to the new Manhattan DA for getting this one right.  Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has filed serious criminal charges  against the owner of a Manhattan construction company that he says put a defective crane into service.

In May 2008, Donald Leo was operating a crane at a construction site on New York's Upper-East Side when it snapped and crashed into an apartment building on 91st Street, killing Leo and a construction worker. The giant crane had been rented by a developer from a company owned by James Lomma of Staten Island.

Now, Lomma has been charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in connection with his role in the tragedy - charges which can result in 20 years in prison. In the indictment, Manhattan DA Vance says that Lomma knew an essential part of the crane was defective. But Vance says that instead of paying for a proper replacement part, Lomma used a much cheaper part built by an unqualified Chinese company. In his indictment, Vance says that the company even warned Lomma that the makeshift repair wouldn't hold, but Lomma rented the machine anyhow!

And to add insult to injury, this collapse happened just two months after another fatal crane collapse on East 51st Street that also involved a crane rented from one of Mr. Lomma’s companies. Seven people died in that crane collapse, but Mr. Lomma was not charged.

The 64 year-old Lomma – owner of the New York Crane and Equipment Corp - could serve the rest of his life behind bars.

But even that hefty price is still no match for the suffering faced by the families that lost their loved ones—men who innocently went to work one day and never came home. It's often the case that construction company owners who break the law just get sued under for negligence under New York Labor Law 241(6). They don't usually face criminal charges - which is certainly a much stronger deterrent.  Thanks to DA Vance's indictment, that might be changing now.

The goal must be increased worker safety and preventing future fatal construction site accidents.  

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As reported in today's New York Daily News, Bronx construction worker Jose Jerez was seriously injured yesterday when he fell 14 feet onto a piece of plywood floor while working at the Freedom Tower. The 28 year old Jerez was working on a doorway 100 feet above ground level at Ground Zero. The article did not describe the cause of the worker's plunge and what, if any, safety equipment was provided to him to prevent the fall (perhaps a harness?).

Unfortunately, the story dealt more with the "turf war" between the Port Authority and the FDNY over which agency should respond to such emergencies.  Apparently, the Port Authority  has sole jurisdiction over the former World Trade Center site, and actually prevented Fire Department medical responders from entering the site to help Mr. Jerez..

This is typical of New York City bureaucracy BS!  If the New York City Fire Department medical team responded first, were they supposed to just wait outside the fence to the Freedom Tower while the construction worker screamed in pain?!  Thankfully, I have a feeling that New York's Bravest" wouldn't stand for such silliness and would always do whatever was necessary to aid an injured worker.

This is not the first construction accident fall at the Freedom Tower, and it certainly won't be the last. Click here to follow the ongoing progress of the re-building of Ground Zero in pictures (they have now placed the structural steel up to 20 floors).   Let's hope the Port Authority responds more professionally in the future. 

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Scary story by Reuven Blau in yesterday's New York Post about stalled construction projects throughout NYC causing debris to rain down on innocent pedestrians. So far this year, at least 15 pedestrians have been hurt by falling construction debris.

Apparently, due to the economic slump, many mothballed construction sites are now either being demolished or shored up with emergency scaffolding sheds at triple the rate of 2007 to prevent accidents. The city has created a special five person inspection team to investigate the growing problem. Such dangerous conditions could lead to injured workers or pedestrians to file a lawsuit under Labor Law 241(6).

Like many of you, I frequently walk through the constant maze of ongoing hi-rise construction jobs in Manhattan. Until everything is shored up properly, maybe we should all be walking on the other side of the street if possible. Be careful out there!

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The criminal "racketeering" type charges against a major New York concrete company "shook the foundation of the city's construction industry".

According to an AP News story yesterday, Testwell Laboratories, Inc. and three of it's executives go on trial today for "enterprise corruption" for allegedly faking concrete strength tests at Ground Zero, the new Yankee Stadium, the Jet Blue Terminal at Kennedy Airport, the Second Avenue Subway and almost 100 major construction projects throughout NYC.

"The charges of faking test results cast doubt on a technical but important part of building in a city of subways and skyscrapers. Despite its bland look, concrete is carefully tailored for different uses and sensitive to variations in ingredients, storage and other factors, making testing a necessity, said Christian Meyer, a Columbia University civil engineering professor who specializes in concrete technology."

Every day New York City construction workers are hurt due to defects in concrete on the work-site. Let's hope that the failure of Testwell to do the right thing does not result in future injuries or death on some of New York's' biggest construction projects, including the current building of the Freedom Tower on the World Trade Center site.

Be careful out there! 

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Turley, Redmond, Rosasco & Rosasco, LLP is pleased to announce the launch of our new New York Construction Accident Law Blog.  As our banner above indicates, we will provide valuable information, insights and support for injured construction workers throughout New York State. As part of this public service, we will be providing you with updates on New York's special laws which protect construction workers, namely New York State Labor Law 200, Labor Law 240 (The Scaffold Law) and Labor Law 241(6) .

Every day workers are seriously injured on construction sites due to Owners, Employers and General Contractors failing to provide adequate safety equipment and protections to their employees. We will be updating this blog weekly with helpful information for injured construction workers. You can subscribe easily by either email notification or RSS feed located on the left side column of this blog. This way you will be automatically notified of new and breaking information that may be useful to you. We will also be providing on the left side a number of useful and 'must read"  links to informational resources for injured construction workers. We are still buliding additional information for the blog, so check back frequently for new features. 

The lack of adequate safety on construction sites is an ongoing problem as builders cut corners to save money. We offer this site as a public service to educate and give support to workers injured on construction sites. As part of this educational process, we welcome you to post general "comments" or "questions at the end of any of our blog posts.  If you prefer to ask specific questions about a specific case in a confidential manner, we strongly suggest that you contact us Toll Free at 1-888-9HURTWORKER (1-888-948-7896). Ask to speak to Troy Rosasco, Senior Partner, at extension 123.

Thankfully, New York State law provides special legal rights, beyond workers' compensation, to many construction workers depending upon how they were injured. The attorneys at Turley, Redmond, Rosasco & Rosasco know these special laws and the fact patterns to which they apply. Many other personal injury lawyers, who may also be handling automobile accidents, medical malpractice, class action or trip & fall cases, can honestly miss potential claims you may have causing you to lose significant money damages for you pain and suffering. Because we have been handling construction site accident cases every day for over 20 years, we will not miss any potential lawsuit you may have and we will advise you of your rights.

Thank you for visiting our new blog and we look forward to serving you, the injured construction worker, in the future.

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