Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. failed to convince a Minnesota state judge to throw out the claims against the company related to the collapse of the Interstate-35W bridge in Minneapolis two years ago. The company had argued that it didn’t owe Minnesota any of the $37 million the state paid out to victims because the design work performed on the bridge was done more than 40 years earlier. A state court judge in Hennepin County on Aug. 28 ruled that the state’s lawsuit against Jacobs, one of several engineers and contractors targeted, could continue.
As the bridge’s principal designer, Jacobs is a focus of the legal claims as well as being one of the biggest companies involved. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has filed several lawsuits seeking to recover money for negligence and breach of contract against Jacobs, URS Corp., which inspected the bridge a few years prior to the collapse, and Progressive Contractors Inc., which was resurfacing the bridge when it collapsed.