Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., has been retained by the family of a deceased bridge worker who was killed in a bridge collapse on October 30, 2008 on I-10 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Eric Troy Blackmon, a long time employee of Boh Bros. Construction, was a foreman on the new Twin Span Bridge being built between Slidell and New Orleans, Louisiana. Mr. Blackmon was attached with a safety harness to a 70 ton concrete girder that collapsed into Lake Pontchartrain. The structural failure caused Mr. Blackmon to fall 30 feet to the lake surface and be pulled to the bottom of the lake.
On October 30th, 2008, ten workers fell into Lake Pontchartrain when a girder beam failed during construction of the Twin Span bridge. The accident happened around 12:30 p.m. on a portion of the new bridge about three miles from the St. Tammany Parish side of the lake.
Beasley Allen represents the family of Eric Troy Blackmon, who was tethered to the collapsed girder. Mr. Blackmon was pulled under the water and ultimately drowned as a result of the failed girder.
The Twin Span project broke ground in July of 2006 and is scheduled for completion in 2011. However, the westbound span — from Slidell to New Orleans — is set to open to traffic in mid-to-late 2009. The $800 million project is funded by the federal government. When complete, the new spans will each carry three lanes of traffic on a 5.5 mile journey across the lake. The old Twin Span, which has been in use since the 1960s and sustained major damage during Hurricane Katrina, will be dismantled.
Beasley Allen lawyers Jere Beasley, Greg Allen, and Chris D. Glover are representing the family of Mr. Blackmon. A complaint was filed on behalf of his family on December 12, 2008 in the Civil District for the Parish of New Orleans, Louisiana. The Complaint is filed against Gulf Coast Pre-Stress, Inc., the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, and Volkert & Associates, Inc. alleging these entities learned of problems in the design of the girders that prevented them from being properly secured to the bridge. According to the complaint, these defendants were negligent in remedial measures taken to repair the design issues in the girders.
This was a terrible incident that resulted in the loss of a loved father and husband. Mr. Blackmon and his co-workers that day were doing exactly what they should have been doing. These concrete girders are not supposed to fail. This is something that should never have happened.
