Years after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse, Pittsburgh nears final settlements with most victims
More than four years after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed into the ravine below and irrevocably changed the lives of 10 people, the long-awaited settlements may finally be coming from the city of Pittsburgh.
City Council is poised to introduce legislation on Tuesday that would award $445,000 in legal payouts to all but one of the victims who filed lawsuits.
On the snowy morning of Jan. 28, 2022, the 447-foot span crumbled. At the time, four passenger vehicles and a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus were driving across. No one was killed, but lawsuits filed by some of the victims detailed life-altering injuries.
Velva Perry, who has since died, experienced a spinal fracture resulting in "prolonged disability and recovery," while her husband Tyrone also suffered spinal injuries, their lawsuit said.
Thomas Bench now experiences severe cervical and back pain. He had been driving across the bridge with his wife, Sarah, at the time of the collapse.
Clinton Runco, who was in a vehicle with his wife, Irene, fractured parts of his neck and ribs.
Daryl Luciani, the PRT bus driver, had a torn rotator cuff and severe PTSD.
The National Transportation Safety Board said that infrequent inspections, insufficient oversight from federal and state officials and repeated failures by the city to make critical repairs led to the collapse.
One of the major factors was that for nearly 20 years prior to the bridge failure, the city rarely cleaned the drainage system, which led to heavy deterioration of the bridge's legs. It was the legs that ultimately crumbled in 2022, the NTSB report said.
Luciani and his wife, Karen, will receive the largest single settlement at $90,000. Tyrone Perry has been awarded $62,500, with an equal amount going to his late wife's estate. The Bench family will receive $70,000, and the Runco family $60,000.
Another $60,000 will go to Joseph Engelmeier, who was driving across the bridge alone. Anna Nichols, who was riding the PRT bus, will receive $40,000.
Matthew Evans, another passenger on the bus, was listed in early lawsuits, but was not included in the list of settlements for City Council approval. Evans' attorney could not be reached on Monday.
The lawsuits also named three engineering firms, CDM Smith Inc, Gannett Fleming Inc. and Larson Design Group Inc. to be at fault for failing to identify breakdowns during inspections of the bridge.
Peter Giglione, the Luciani family's attorney, declined to comment on whether the lawsuit against the engineering firms was still being pursued.
"I can't comment other than to say the whole matter has been amicably resolved," he said Monday morning.
Attorneys representing the other victims could not be reached.
The city announced in September 2024 that it had reached a proposed settlement of $500,000 - the maximum allowed by law - for the victims and Giglione confirmed Monday that these payouts were from that agreement. It's unclear why it took city officials nearly two years to move on the resolution.
Mayor Corey O'Connor's office declined to comment.
City Council members have a closed-door briefing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to discuss the settlements. The approval vote could come as early as the end of June.
The Fern Hollow Bridge was back up and running 11 months after the collapse, but despite efforts by former Mayor Ed Gainey to catch up on decades of lapsed bridge maintenance, there is still more to be done.
A quarter of the city-owned bridges in Pittsburgh are in poor condition, according to the city's bridge dashboard.
Outside consultants recommended that the city spend almost $10 million annually on routine maintenance, but ongoing budget constraints have kept that number under $3 million.
Other bridges, including the Charles Anderson Bridge and Panther Hollow Overpass, have been closed for years while safety repairs are made. Nearly two dozen city-owned bridges are in the process of being repaired or renovated.
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