Settlement reached in collapse of Minneapolis bridge

MINNEAPOLIS – After enduring countless surgeries and hours of court hearings, victims of the deadly 2007 Minneapolis Interstate 35W bridge collapse reached the end of their legal fight after an engineering firm agreed to pay $52.4 million to settle scores of lawsuits.

The settlement by San Francisco-based URS Corp. – agreed to more than a week ago but kept quiet until Monday – resolves the last major piece of litigation brought by victims. All told, the state and two of its contractors will have paid out $100 million to the families of the 13 people who died and the 145 people who were injured when the Mississippi River bridge broke apart during rush hour.

The settlement averts a trial that had been set for next spring that could have opened URS to punitive damages.

URS had argued its engineers didn’t know about a design flaw in the bridge that made it vulnerable. In a statement, the company said the settlement was necessary to avoid protracted litigation and said it admitted no fault.

At a news conference, several survivors said they were relieved by the settlement and looking forward to getting on with their lives.

“In this nation, justice is spelled out in dollars,” said Garrett Ebling, who broke every bone in his face and spent two months in the hospital with multiple injuries. But he said victims would “trade every dollar we receive from this settlement for an original bridge that was built, maintained and inspected properly.”

The terms called for $48.6 million of the settlement to go to victims, and $1.5 million to be set aside for a memorial to those who died in the collapse.