Legal action on Washington Bridge could start in August, independent legal team says

Providence-based attorneys Max Wistow, left, and Jonathan Savage, right, provide an update on the potential for litigation against contractors who previously worked on the now-closed westbound Washington Bridge. The pair are leading a six-member legal team hired by Gov. Dan McKee. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)

The independent legal team hired by Gov. Dan McKee to identify and hold accountable those at fault for the emergency closure of the Washington Bridge may be ready to file a lawsuit next month.

But taking that step would likely mean delaying the release of a forensic analysis detailing what led to the bridge to be in such poor condition — a report Gov. Dan McKee promised last March would lead to “a day of reckoning.”

Attorneys Max Wistow and Jonathan Savage appeared Wednesday morning at McKee’s request for a press conference in Savage’s downtown Providence office to summarize their plan to pursue legal action if necessary in a high profile case that has disrupted commutes around the region for seven months.

“This is not a slip-and-fall at Stop & Shop,” Wistow told reporters. “This is an extremely complicated, very fact-intensive, and very labor-intensive case.”

The western side of the Washington Bridge was abruptly closed last December after engineers discovered broken anchor rods that put the westbound section of I-195 at risk of collapse. At the time, the state said the span carried approximately 96,000 vehicles a day between East Providence and Providence.

McKee hired the six-person legal team led by Wistow and Savage in April .

Wistow said the team plans to hold on to its findings unearthed during a forensic investigation throughout the legal proceedings until instructed otherwise.

“Information that you all are interested in will come out through the litigation process,” Savage told reporters.

The press conference followed an announcement Tuesday by McKee that the Rhode Island Department of Transportation would issue a new solicitation seeking feedback from companies about the state’s initial request for proposals to replace the bridge. Although the state contacted 2,100 construction companies and saw 67 view the solicitation, only one asked a question and none submitted a bid by the July 3 deadline .

RIDOT to collect feedback from bridge construction firms as it retools Washington Bridge bid specs

McKee had deferred to the legal team Tuesday all questions on any steps the state plans to take to any firm or individual. He did not attend Wednesday’s media briefing and was instead traveling to Salt Lake City to attend the National Governors Association 2024 Summer Meeting.

The governor is scheduled to return to Rhode Island on Saturday, according to his office.

If no legal case is brought forth, Wistow said the release of the long-awaited forensic report is at the discretion of the governor. At a March 14 news conference announcing the decision to tear the bridge down, McKee said the report would be released “in a couple of weeks.” McKee had also vowed in front of television cameras that the parties responsible for the bridge’s emergency closure would be identified and held accountable.

Pressed by reporters Wednesday whether he has an idea of what went wrong with the Washington Bridge, Wistow said, “I’m going to answer yes, but I’m not going to go beyond that.”

In April, Wistow and Savage sent letters to a dozen companies that have worked on or inspected the bridge advising them to notify their insurance companies that the state’s legal team was investigating potential claims relating to the Washington Bridge. They were also instructed to suspend all destruction or disposal of any documents related in any way to the bridge.

Wistow stressed that issuing the letters did not mean all of those firms would be potential defendants.

“Sometimes insurance companies are not too eager to help people,” Wistow said. “We didn’t want to be in a situation where some insurance company later says ‘you should have told us about this litigation.’”

The firms that received letters were also invited to inspect the bridge — under supervision — before it is demolished, something the state said is slated to begin July 17. None of the companies took up the legal team’s offer, Wistow said.

The state’s legal team declined to say if there are any other potential defendants outside of the 12 firms that received letters.

Wistow also acknowledged the legal team is investigating any management failures made at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation but ruled out litigation against the state.

“There’s absolutely no sense in the state suing the state,” he said. “It would be not much of a recovery, if you could even do such a thing.”

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