A week after a pedestrian bridge collapsed in Miami, killing sixpeople and injuring another 10, investigators are still working toanswer what caused the 950-ton structure to crash into several carsstopped at a red light below.
Several lawsuits have been filed by families and friends ofvictims since last week’s collapse at Florida InternationalUniversity.
Here’s a quick rundown of what the lawsuits claim and what’snext as the investigation into the bridge’s failure movesforward.
Who are the victims?
Recovery efforts ended this past weekend after police announcedthat they believed all victims have been recovered from thewreckage. In total, five bodies were removed from underneath thebridge. Another later died in a local hospital.
The victims were later identified by both police and families ofthe dead. Their ages ranged from 18 to 60, the Miami Heraldreported, with the youngest victim being Florida InternationalUniversity student Alexa Duran. Navaro Brown, Brandon Brownfield,Rolando Fraga Hernandez, Osvaldo Gonzalez, Alberto Arias also diedfrom the collapse. Gonzalez and Arias had been life partners for 21years.
A vigil was held at the university Wednesday to honor thevictims. Afterward, thousands of mourners, carrying ivory daisies,walked to a memorial nearby the crash site. A prayer service wasalso scheduled Thursday, to begin at the exact time of the bridgecollapse a week earlier.
What lawsuits have been filed?
The first lawsuit related to the collapse was filed in courtMonday on behalf of cyclist Marquise Hepburn, who was injured whilepassing by that day.
The lawsuit alleged negligence by FIGG Bridge Engineers andMunilla Construction Management, the two firms involved in theconstruction of the bridge. The lawsuit said Hepburn is seekingdamages in excess of $15,000 from the firms, The Wall StreetJournal reported. Hepburn’s lawyer told reporters that the24-year-old was knocked off his bicycle when a car veered into hispath to avoid the collapsing bridge.
The same law firm representing Hepburn also filed a civillawsuit of behalf of FIU student Emily Panagos, 21, whose car wascrushed in the collapse. Panagos survived the incident.
Later this week, another lawsuit was filed on behalf of thefamily of victim Rolando Fraga, 60, who died in the collapse. Thelawyer representing the family said the companies behind theproject should have closed the roadway while the bridge was stillbeing constructed, NBC News reported. The bridge was originallyslated to open to the public next year.
And the families of Alberto Arias, 53, and Osvaldo Gonzalez, 57,also signaled that they were filing a wrongful death lawsuit, theMiami Herald reported after funeral services for the men this week.The men, who were partners for more than 20 years, both died insidetheir truck in the collapse.
What went wrong?
The $14.2 million pedestrian bridge was intended to allowstudents to safely cross from Florida International University’smain campus over a six-lane highway to a cluster of off-campushousing.
Celebrated as a “one-of-a-kind” project by the university, thebridge was raised over the course of a Saturday morning. Then, fivedays later, it collapsed.
The lawsuits emerged after the Florida Department ofTransportation released a transcript of a call made by theproject’s lead engineer, telling state officials that he hadspotted cracks in the structure.
Here’s part of what the engineer said in his voicemail,according to the provided transcript: “Calling to, uh, share withyou some information about the FIU pedestrian bridge and somecracking that’s been observed on the north end of the span, thepylon end of that span we moved this weekend. Um, so, uh, we’vetaken a look at it and, uh, obviously some repairs or whatever willhave to be done but from a safety perspective we don’t see thatthere’s any issue there so we’re not concerned about it from thatperspective although obviously the cracking is not good andsomething’s going to have to be, ya know, done to repair that.”
The voicemail was left days before the bridge’s collapse. FDOTsaid the message wasn’t heard until March 16 because the employeewas out of office on assignment.
FDOT also said the agency normally issues a permit for partialor full road closures “if deemed necessary and requested by the FIUdesign build team.”
The federal investigation into the incident is ongoing and theexact cause of the collapse has yet to be determined. It’s notclear if any known cracks are the actual cause for the bridge’sfailure.
NTSB previously confirmed that workers were adjusting tension onthe two rods at the north end of the span when the bridgecollapsed.
“They had done this same work earlier at the south end, moved tothe north side, and had adjusted one rod. They were working on thesecond rod when the span failed and collapsed,” NTSB said in astatement.
The roadway was not closed when the workers were readjusting thetension for the bridge.
The speedy construction process used to raise the bridge is alsobeing scrutinized, the Associated Pressreported.
What’s next?
NTSB said it was sending samples from the crash site to aresearch center in McLean, Virginia, for evaluation, andinvestigators are gathering interviews from witnesses and thoseinvolved in the project. In the coming weeks, NTSB is expected torelease a preliminary report of their findings, although a causefor the collapse may still not be determined then, the Heraldreported.
Miami-Dade police are also conducting a homicide investigationto determine whether charges should be filed over negligence.
And the inspector general at the U.S. Department ofTransportation will also investigate the bridge collapse, theWashington Post reported. An announcement about the audit isexpected next week, the Post said.
From this case explain how the 3 elements of recovery arepresent under tort law
1. Plaintiff suffered harm
2. Defendant's act or failure to act caused the harm
3. Defendant's act or failure to act was a breach of duty.
