Hundreds of Millions in Crane Collapse Lawsuits Await City

The city comptroller's office says there are "more than half a billion dollars in lawsuits" stemming from the fatal crane collapses earlier this year. The families of two constructions workers who died have filed notices of claim for the May 30 collapse on East 91st Street; Ramadan Kurtag's family plans to sue for $75 million while Donald Leo's family's claim is for $20 million. The Daily News reports there are also "several smaller claims ranging from $2,700 to $12,000" from residents and a "$300,000 one by a nearby Duane Reade...for damages and loss of business." As for the March 15 crane collapse on East 51st Street, those notices of claim total $497 million.

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By Jen Chung in News on September 2, 2008 8:58 AM

Comments [rss]

Steven

It will be a decade later before anyone sees any money.

ides_of_march

Corruption is expensive.

Roxanne

Thanks Mayor Bloomberg for passing this cost to the taxpayers instead of your rich developer friends who cost these accidents with their short cuts to save money

Public Relations

We passed by there and it really was a nightmare.

It would be interesting to discover the official cause of the collapse.

Could this be another case of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure - or will the blame game prevent the real truth and lessons from being learnt