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Apr 17, 2009 10:51 pm US/Central
Bridge Victims: Settlement Can't Heal The Pain
(WCCO)
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Andy Gannon was given about $100,000 in the settlement. He may have walked away, but just a few months later he lost his job in sales because of the stress.
CBS
It's now known how much money the state paid each victim of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse. All 179 victims agreed to payments from a pool of nearly $37 million. The smallest amount was $4,500 and the largest was $2.2 million.
A small panel spent the last year putting a price tag on all of the pain.
Andy Gannon was headed north. His Pacifica was on the same slab as a school bus when he fell 42 feet.
"It's a long process. It's just not a real quick fix. There's a lot of things happened that day," said Gannon.
Gannon was given about $100,000. He may have walked away, but just a few months later he lost his job in sales because of the stress.
Paula Coulter was paid the most, more than $2 million. She was the last survivor to leave the hospital. Her whole family was hurt when their van was smashed.
Jennifer Holmes is raising two kids alone. Her husband never made it home. She was given nearly $1.4 million.
Mercedes Gordon spent nearly a year learning how to walk again got a check for $850,000 to help pay her medical bills.
Gannon says the settlement will help but he knows it certainly won't heal him.
"I would give up every penny to not have been on there," he said.
While this will be the end of the settlements from the state, it isn't over. Some survivors don't agree with the National Transportation Safety Board's decision that the collapse was caused by a bad gusset plate. They have attorneys who say it was something else and that it gives them legal grounds to sue consultants and contractors.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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