It has been more than two years since the Interstate-35W bridge in Minneapolis suddenly collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people and injuring 145 others, and yet scores of lawsuits filed against firms involved in the bridge’s design and upkeep are just getting under way.
While the replacement bridge, completed last year, required the attention of more than 600 craft workers and engineers, just one state judge, Deborah Hedlund, sitting in the Hennepin County District Court, is handling all 121 pending lawsuits, which she plans to begin trying in March 2011. In an effort to keep things simple, the cases will be tried in groups of six, say lawyers involved in the proceedings.