WTAE PITTSBURGH — Victims of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse filed lawsuits Thursday accusing the city of Pittsburgh and inspection companies of negligence. The lawsuits say the city failed to maintain the bridge, and the engineering firms failed to do proper inspections, all of which led to the collapse.
Victims of the collapse filed lawsuits against the city of Pittsburgh and inspection companies, alleging negligence. The city failed to maintain the bridge, while engineering firms neglected proper inspections. Daryl Luciani, the bus driver during the collapse, feared the bus would fall into the ravine. Luciani’s lawsuit highlights the city’s lack of recommended maintenance, insufficient engineer recommendations, and incorrect load capacity calculations. The lawsuit also points out negligence allegations against engineering firms CDM Smith and Gannett Fleming. The city and engineering firms have 30 days to respond to the lawsuits, with trials scheduled for next year.
Lawsuits have been filed against the city of Pittsburgh and inspection firms following the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse, which occurred when a Pittsburgh Regional Transport bus fell into a ravine, injuring two passengers and the driver. The lawsuits claim that the city failed to properly maintain the bridge, while the inspection companies are accused of missing serious flaws, ultimately leading to the catastrophic collapse.
Among those filing complaints was Daryl Luciani, the driver of a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus.
For the first time, Luciani’s attorneys described what went through his mind the moment the bridge began to fall.
“He thought that the bus was going to go back down, and he was going to die, the bus falling back into the ravine. He had two passengers on that bus that he told to sit still because he was afraid if they moved that the bus would go down into the ravine,” said Peter Giglione, an attorney for Luciani.
As the bridge began to fall, Giglione said, Luciani heard the whoosh of a broken natural gas line and the smell of gas.
“So the next thought in his brain is if I don’t fall into this ravine, I’m going to explode,” Giglione said.
Luciani’s lawsuit accuses the city and the inspectors of negligence. It says the city chose not to do recommended maintenance, the engineers did not recommend sufficient maintenance, and the engineers failed to correctly calculate the bridge’s load capacity, one of the NTSB’s findings.
The lawsuit also says the city should have done a better job checking the background of the engineering firms.
“This isn’t me hiring some mechanic down the street to fix my car. This is a government trying to maintain an artery in the city safely,” said Steve Barth, another attorney for Luciani.
The complaint cites reporting by Action News Investigates that engineering firm CDM Smith paid $40 million to settle negligence lawsuits, faced pending litigation and admitted to bribing Indian government officials. The lawsuit also describes negligence allegations against engineering firm Gannett Fleming, which included a Boston tunnel collapse that killed a woman.
“Particularly with some of the reporting you’ve done, that allowed us to find out this information,” Barth said.
The city and the engineering firms — which also include Larson Design Group — declined to comment on the lawsuits filed by Luciani and other victims of the collapse.
The city and the engineering firms have 30 days to respond to the lawsuits. Trials are scheduled for late next year.