Law.com (subscription required) is reporting that a Manhattan jury yesterday awarded $48 million in punitive damages, on top of $48 million in compensatory damages, against the owner of a construction crane that collapsed and killed two men. 

This award is one of the largest awards we have seen this year, second only to the award of $122.5 million awarded against a doctor accused of injuring the chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board with a bomb. 

The $48 million award in the crane case is just barely larger than a Georgia jury’s $47.9 million award against a landlord blamed for a gas explosion.  That award has already been reduced to $250,000 under a statutory cap.

The next highest punitive award appears to be a Philadelphia jury’s award of $38.5 million against a security firm.