FLORIDA : Settlement Reached in Bridge Fall Case

Lawyers announced a $9-million settlement for a pregnant woman who was lifted more than 50 feet off the ground by an opening drawbridge and then plunged to the pavement in Miami. Elvia Reyes had clung to the sidewalk in terror as the drawbridge over Miami River opened. “She was screaming and screaming, but the controller didn’t stop,” witness Lester Valdez said at the time. Reyes lost her fetus and was hospitalized with internal injuries and broken bones in the 1995 accident. She sued a contractor, the bridge tender and others. At the time of the accident, the bridge was under construction but open to pedestrian and motor traffic.