Designer Of Doomed Mpls. Bridge Seeks Legal Waiver

BRIAN BAKST

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota judge presiding over lawsuits from the Interstate 35W bridge collapse reacted skeptically Friday to a design firm's claim of legal immunity because its work was done more than four decades before the 2007 failure.

While Judge Deborah Hedlund didn't rule from the bench, she challenged an attorney for Pasadena, Calif.-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. to explain why a 10-year limit on liability should apply to a structure meant to last a century. Federal investigators concluded that design flaws were the main culprit in the collapse.

"So you're saying if the bridge collapsed in the first 10 years, you're on the hook? If it doesn't you're out?" Hedlund asked Jacobs' attorney Kirk Kolbo, adding later, "Is it reasonable to cut off your liability after 10 years?"

Kolbo answered that the lookback window in state law doesn't distinguish between a bridge and other products nor should it.

"After long passage of time, there are many other factors that can be the cause of an accident," he said. Jacobs is the successor to the original designer, Svedrup & Parcel, which completed its Minneapolis bridge work in the 1960s.