Lawsuits Filed Against Consulting Firm, Contractors in 35W Bridge Collapse
MINNEAPOLIS -- Lawsuits were filed today in Hennepin County District Court on behalf of three individuals who were injured and the family of one who was killed in the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
Negligent engineers?
The lawsuits claim negligence, breach of contract and a violation of professional standards on behalf of URS Corporation, a California based engineering firm, which had contracted with MnDOT to perform inspections and expert engineering analysis of the 35W bridge going back to 2004.
The lawsuits were brought by the Minneapolis law firm of Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben Schwebel says URS missed warning signs in bent and corroding gusset plates, which had whittled down to a quarter of an inch, that led to the collapse.
"You've got a situation here where you've got both ends of a fracture-critical member that are compromised," Schwebel said. "URS did not act on this information."
PCI Corporation, the contractor working on the bridge deck at the time of the collapse, was also named as a defendant. The suit claims that PCI’s excessive loading of materials on the bridge, its removal of critical bridge deck elements and its failure to do any engineering analysis, contributed to causing the collapse.
Wrongful death on behalf of Paul Eickstadt
Wrongful death is also claimed in the complaint filed on behalf of Paul Eickstadt and his next of kin.
Eickstadt, 51, is the only individual named in the lawsuits who was killed in the bridge collapse. He was driving a truck that was engulfed in flames immediately after the collapse.
Thirteen people died and 145 were injured when the bridge collapse on August 1, 2007. The suits will be filed on behalf of three of the injured and the family of one of the dead.
Thursday, the NTSB is releasing its official findings of the cause of the bridge collapse. Leaked reports say that too-thin gusset plates are to blame.