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A Manhattan appeals court has slashed a record-breaking $95 million jury award to $35 million against construction magnate James Lomma over the 2008 crane collapse that killed two workers on the Upper East Side.
In 2015, the jury gave $39.5 million to the family of Staten Island crane operator Donald Leo Jr., who fell 240 feet to his death when the bearing on Lomma’s Kodiak crane cracked. The heavy machinery collapsed onto laborer Ramadan Kurtaj, who was working on the ground below the crane.
His family received a $55.5 million verdict.
“We find that these awards are excessive,” a five-judge panel from the Appellate Division First Department wrote in a unanimous ruling Tuesday.
The panel cut the Leo family’s award to $16 million and the Kurtajs’ to $19 million. The parties can accept the reduced award or ask for a new trial.
But the lawyers for the plaintiffs’ said they were pleased with the decision.
“The family looks forward to putting this long and painful chapter behind them,” said Susan Karten, who represents Kurtaj’s father and cousin.
“We hope going forward the construction industry takes heed of this and it will be safety first,” said Bernadette Panzella, who was the attorney for Donald Leo Jr.’s mother during the trial.
Lomma’s attorney, Nathaniel Marmur, said his client “did not receive a fair opportunity at trial to prove that this devastating accident was not [his company’s] fault, and we are confident that further appellate review will vindicate our position.”
The self-described King of Cranes declared bankruptcy shortly after the verdict was announced.



