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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The winter of 2010 is turning out to be particularly hazardous to New York City construction workers who regularly work outside or in unheated enclosures. This year's unusually low temperatures, when combined with large snow falls, lingering ice, and frequent downpours of rain, have created a "perfect storm" causing untold numbers of carpenters, iron workers etc. to have accidents on construction sites that would not normally have occurred during a milder winter. 

Just yesterday, Turley , Redmond, Rosasco & Rosasco was retained by a worker who stepped off a hi-lo onto ice that should have been cleared, sanded, or salted by the owner of the property where he was working. Our client fell directly on his rear end and suffered a severely fractured  coccyx bone (more commonly known as the tail bone and almost impossible to repair surgically). His orthopedic doctor at a university hospital said he had only seen such a severe break of the coccyx bone in professional athletes.  He was told he would be out of work for at least six months to see if it will heal on it's own. Otherwise, he will have to consider surgery and Social Security Disability.

The sad part of this story is that this injury was entirely preventable. Our client, along with numerous other employees, had complained to the property owner about the dangerous ice conditions for weeks after the large snow storm earlier this winter. The property owner had piles of salt and sand stacked on the work site, but failed to use it.  It was as if the sand and salt were there just for show!

For his immediate money and medical needs, the worker will have to live on New York workers' comp benefits for the foreseeable future. Luckily, since the property owner was not his employer, we will be able to sue for additional economic damages and pain and suffering.  However, in order to get the client the maximum potential recovery at trial, it is likely that  the client will be waiting for at least a few years. All of this could have been prevented had the property owner simply spread a little sand and salt on the ground! Silly!

In this frigid weather, according to OSHA, there are many things construction workers can do to protect themselves in cold weather. Please remember to dress properly (layers, hats, gloves, Vaseline on your toes before putting on socks), take frequent breaks, and avoid drinks with caffeine or alcohol.  Despite what others might say, a warm cup of "Joe" or a small nip of brandy will only make you colder.  Better to drink a warm sports-type drink.

Finally, there is no better protection than being alert at all times on a construction site. This means getting a good night's rest before working outside the next day in the cold.  Experienced New York construction accident lawyers  know that extremely cold weather and outside work is often times a recipe for unfortunate accidents. Be careful out there! 

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As winter approaches with ice and freezing rain, I am sure that that more carpenters and other workers on construction sites will be calling our offices with ladder accidents. Unfortunately, for those construction workers who have work during the winter, their jobs become doubly dangerous.

Last Friday in Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead, our trial attorneys settled a case involving a construction worker who slipped off a ladder and broke his ankle for $900,000.  Our client was working on new construction at a local school district at the time of the accident. We had already wrapped up the workers' compenstation portion of his claim and taken care of all his past medical care.

Of course, this was not the "run of the mill" ankle fracture. It was the far more serious trimalleolar fracture  involving all three bones of the ankle, the tibia, fibula and talus (see diagram above). This is a very unstable fracture and requires surgery involving the placement of multiple surgical screws in the ankle joint, as it did in this case (see x-ray below of trimalleolar fracture with screws). Unfortunately, due to this injury our client was never able to return to his career as a union carpenter.

The thing that makes this case even more significant was that such a high settlement amount was negotiated in the normally very conservative Suffolk County, New York.  Suffolk County is still New York State's largest agricultural county, and juries tend to be more conservative than those we see in the Bronx or other NYC boroughs.

The case was settled during jury selection and like any good poker player, our trial attorney held on to his cards until he got the client the number he wanted.  Our client never expected such a large recovery from his lawsuit, and he and his wife were quite pleased to say the least.

As winter approaches, all workers on construction sites should be extra careful when climbing and descending ladders. One wrong step could end your career in construction.  

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