Faced with manslaughter charges, Azure crane owner sues for $1M in damages

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From left: Crane owner James Lomma and the Azure at 333 East 91st Street

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The owner of the crane company implicated in the deadly 2008 collapse at the Upper East Side’s Azure is suing the construction company that had rented his crane for $1.1 million in damages, the Post reported. The owner, James Lomma, is currently awaiting trial on manslaughter charges after a judge turned down his bid to get the case dismissed last month. He and mechanic Tibor Varganyi were accused of arranging for a cheap welding job on the 200-foot-tall crane, which failed after a month of use. Lomma has since filed a suit in New Jersey’s Hudson County Superior Court seeking to force Sorbara Construction, which had rented the crane for its work at the 333 East 91st Street site, to pay him back for the more than $1 million in “cleanup duties” that resulted from the crash. [Post]