A number of lawsuits have been filed after a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed, injuring and killing a number of people.
The bridge collapsed Thursday, trapping at least eight vehicles that had stopped underneath it. The incident claimed the lives of six individuals and resulted in injuries to at least six others.
Yesenia Collazo, a lawyer of the Collazo Law Firm in Doral, Florida, has announced her intent to file a suit on behalf of the families of Alberto Arias, 53, and Osvaldo González, 57 – two of the victims who were fatally injured by the collapse, The Daily Beast reported.
“We are attacking this lawsuit as a quest for information,” Collazo told the Miami Herald. “The family is asking very simple questions, and we’re not able to give them those answers.”
Another law firm, Morgan and Morgan, is also suing on behalf of two other survivors – Marquise Rashaad Hepburn, 24, who was injured by falling debris while riding his bicycle; and Emily Panagos, 22, an FIU student who happened to be driving when concrete from the bridge crushed the rear part of her car.
The lawsuit alleges that FIGG Bridge Engineers and Munilla Construction Management were negligent in their construction of the bridge. The document, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, also named inspection company Bolton Perez and Associates and NJ-based Louis Berger U.S., which reviewed the bridge’s design, as defendants.
“If we assume that the facts that have been reported are true, then it appears that the building team might have had knowledge that the bridge was in a dangerous condition, did not close the roadway rerouting traffic and, ultimately, a failure resulted,” said Morgan and Morgan attorney Matt Morgan in a press conference.
