Law Firm Sues For Access To Bridge Documents

10/04/2007

(AP) A law firm that represents several victims of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse and their families filed a freedom of information lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Transportation on Thursday, seeking access to documents from an engineering firm the state hired to study the disaster.

Attorney Jim Schwebel said the consulting firm -- Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. -- "has been given special treatment and has been allowed unfettered access to the site virtually from the beginning," while experts working for victims have had only limited access to crucial information.

The lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County District Court, cites the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act in seeking access to all records and documents MnDOT possesses related to the bridge collapse, including documents generated by the consulting firm. It says MnDOT failed to respond to two formal written requests for the information that were filed last month.

MnDOT spokeswoman Lucy Kender declined to comment on the lawsuit itself. But, she added, "We have had an extraordinary number of Data Practices requests since the bridge collapsed August first and we are working our best to fill them."

It's the second time Schwebel and his firm have sued to gain greater access to information on the collapse. A federal judge in mid-August rejected the firm's request to be allowed onto the disaster site. At the time, authorities were still trying to recover bodies of the victims from the Mississippi River and the National Transportation Safety Board was leading the investigation.

"Initially the NTSB and MnDOT defended this limited access by stating that it would somehow interfere with the recovery of the bodies," Schwebel said. "Interesting how their own experts' activities didn't interfere with any body being recovered. But once the bodies were out of the river they didn't have any excuse for their violation of the Data Practices Act."

Schwebel said other things that are different now are that the site and much of the wreckage has been turned over to MnDOT, and his firm is suing in state court instead of federal court.

"It's a much different ballgame now," he said.

The Aug. 1 collapse killed 13 people and injured about 100 others. Schwebel said his firm -- Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben -- represents "several" families who lost loves ones and "many" people who suffered injuries. He declined to give numbers or names, saying that will all come out when the firm eventually files formal claims for damages.