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May 1, 2008 7:12 pm US/Central
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Senator Pushes 'Fallback' For Collapse Victims
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
The Senate's lead negotiator on compensating victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse is pushing a "fallback" option in case there's no deal on a compensation fund.
Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, said an amendment added to a larger Senate judiciary bill on Wednesday would allow bridge victims to sue the state or enter into settlement talks for up to $300,000 each. It would waive the $1 million-per-incident liability cap in effect when the bridge fell on Aug. 1.
Under Latz's amendment, victims would have to file claims or sue the state to get any money.
But without a waiver, Latz said Thursday that the victims could be left with nothing if he and his House counterpart, Rep. Ryan Winkler, fail to shake hands.
Their negotiations have been hung up by disagreements over capping awards to individuals and other issues, although talks for a $38 million fund continue behind the scenes.
"If we end up with nothing, at least I'd like to have this piece taken care of," Latz said.
He declined to discuss the sticking points in conference committee talks, but Winkler said they're discussing a cap on compensation and a supplemental fund for the worst-hurt victims.
Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, said the backup option is "unacceptable" because it would put victims through a long legal process and leave the most severely injured victims with uncovered costs.
Victims' attorney Chris Messerly predicted victims would sue to overturn the state's liability caps.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)