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, which killed two workers in 2008.
Prosecutors presented opening arguments with a computer model that they said depicted the fatal accident at a Manhattan high-rise site. Defense attorneys claimed that photographic evidence from the scene contradicted the computer model and exonerated their client, who is CEO of New York Crane and Equipment Corp. The firm and J.F. Lomma Inc., another owned by Lomma, are also defendants.