Legal battle could reveal if RI officials share blame for Washington Bridge failure

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Rhode Island leaders’ unwillingness to point fingers at themselves over the Washington Bridge failure has been a consistent theme ever since the westbound bridge abruptly closed to 90,000 vehicles daily beginning in December.

And their stance didn’t change last week when R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha and a legal team hired by Gov. Dan McKee’s office filed a lawsuit against 13 companies , alleging they failed to identify or address worsening structural issues with the bridge in the years leading up to its closure.

Asked Friday whether anyone inside state government shared any responsibility for the infrastructure debacle, Neronha responded, “That’s not something for me to answer either now or down the road.”

“Like any state agency – I run one, I’ve run a federal agency – issues about performance are separate from a lawsuit,” he added.

R.I. Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti similarly deflected a question Tuesday about whether he’d personally held anyone accountable inside his agency. The estimated cost of the infrastructure failure is already approaching $500 million .

“We at RIDOT are held accountable on a daily basis for everything we do,” Alviti said during an interview on 12 News at 4 . The accused companies, he said, had “the expertise that we rely on to make decisions, and they should be held responsible for that.”

But the denial of any responsibility by state leaders – or at least their refusal to discuss such responsibility publicly – is also likely tied to their legal strategy. Admitting any fault heading into a civil lawsuit could hurt the state’s chances of getting money from the defendants down the road.

In other words, to the extent state officials could be partly or even fully to blame for the bridge failure, admitting as much would likely work against them whenever the case gets settled, or goes to a jury for trial.

“When a company is building a project and they have some other people doing some of the work — and things go poorly — they don’t sue themselves,” explained Michael Yelnosky, a professor and former dean of Roger Williams University School of Law.

But the lawsuit now opens the door for the defendants to push back, which could lead to Rhode Islanders learning more about how — if at all — the state messed up.

“The defendants will have every incentive to point the finger at the state, so any state misconduct — for lack of a better word — might get unearthed that way,” Yelnosky said.

The defendants in the coming weeks will respond to the state’s complaint and either admit or deny the allegations. Some may even level their own accusations against the state, as is common in civil litigation.

“We stand behind the quality of all our past work and the work we will perform in the future,” said Frank McMahon, a spokesperson for Aetna Bridge Co., one of the businesses sued by the state. “We will vigorously defend ourselves against any claims made in this lawsuit.”

A crucial step will be legal discovery, when both sides turn over to each other any relevant documents, and key players on either side could be interviewed by attorneys. This step in litigation is often when dirt comes out.

McKee himself has suggested he expects the discovery process could help satisfy the public’s appetite for accountability among state officials.

“During that discovery you’re going to see whether there were any management issues that need to be addressed,” the governor told reporters last week.

The amount of discovery could be extensive. There’s decades of underlying information tied to the closed bridge, which opened in 1968.

“The plot will get pretty thick, is my guess,” Yelnosky said. He pointed out another reason that could happen: “The feds are sniffing around.”

RIDOT earlier this year turned over hundreds of bridge-related documents to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is investigating whether anyone inside or outside government who worked on the bridge violated any federal laws over the years.

Issues with the bridge were first identified in 1992, according to the state’s newly filed lawsuit. And state attorneys alleged the now-accused companies ignored ensuing red flags, which together contributed to the bridge deterioration, making them culpable.

But the state’s lawsuit is silent on the question of whether government should be held to the same standard. And even if the strategy could he helping the state in court, McKee’s unwillingness to hold anyone accountable inside his administration has drawn public criticism. A recent poll found only 29% of voters approve of the governor’s handling of the bridge crisis.

“Only in RI could a state sue companies over their failure to deal with the bridge project, and not hold the state director responsible for overseeing them accountable,” tweeted Gary Sasse, who served as director of administration under former Gov. Donald Carcieri.

If McKee ever were to take any action against someone inside government, Yelnosky said it woud benefit him to “keep the reasons for doing so as close to the vest so as to not unnecessarily complicate the litigation.”

Neronha declined to answer questions related to state accountability on Friday, saying “whether or not someone should have overseen the experts differently is not a matter for us to discuss here.”

In all likelihood, however, the matter will be discussed. At this point, it’s just a matter of when.

Eli Sherman ( esherman@wpri.com ) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook .

Ted Nesi contributed to this report.

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