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April 12: 35W panel's impossible task nears end

Bridge collapse survivors have until Thursday to accept state settlements. Almost everyone realizes the money goes only so far.

April 16, 2009 at 7:40PM

Sue Holden is chairwoman of the Special Master Panel set up by the Legislature to figure out how much money should go to each survivor of the I-35W bridge collapse. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Susan Holden and her team of lawyers have been working out a daunting math question: How much money should each survivor get from the state's 35W bridge collapse fund?

How much for Sandy and Dan Cermak, who had only bruises after their van skidded to a stop on a slanting slab of concrete? How much for Garrett Ebling, who may have years of surgeries ahead of him? How much for the families of the 13 who died?

With $36.6 million from the Legislature to compensate bridge victims, Holden and two fellow lawyers on the state's compensation panel are nearly done with the impossible task of placing a dollar value on suffering. Survivors have until Thursday to accept or reject the state's offers -- which range from a low of about $5,000 to more than $2 million.

Afterward, the settlements will be made public.

The process to determine the individual dollar amounts stretched for months. Nearly every survivor sat down with at least one of the lawyers and described how the tragedy had affected their health, psyche and income. The panel members collected reams of medical records and statements of income. They tried to peer into the future -- how many more counseling appointments or months of lost wages?

They came up with numbers -- 179 numbers, to be exact -- and added them together.

"There was not enough money to pay all of those offers," Holden said. So they went back and started subtracting and adding again.

Holden is chairwoman of the Special Master Panel set up by the Legislature, and she is expecting all of the panel's offers, which aren't negotiable, to be accepted. Officials acknowledge that the money will go only so far.

Sen. Ron Latz, the St. Louis Park DFLer who co-sponsored the statute that set up the funds, said several factors played into the final amount -- financial projections based on the situations of some survivors, similar cases in personal-injury law and the political reality of the state's budget outlook.

Legislators knew "there really wouldn't be enough money to fully compensate everyone for their losses," he said.

But the fund has given survivors the chance to get far more than they might have. Previous Minnesota law capped individual claims against the state at $300,000 per person and put a $1 million limit on total damages arising from any single event. The caps, now $400,000 and $1.2 million, are still in place for other incidents, and Latz has introduced a bill to eliminate the event cap.

The bridge compensation process started with a fund of $24 million, from which individual claims of up to $400,000 would be paid. A second pool of $12.6 million is being used for payments to families of the 13 people who died and to survivors with the most serious injuries.

The lowest settlement offer was about $5,000, Holden said, while the highest exceeded $2 million. Money from any rejected settlements will be redistributed, she said.

Settlements given to minors, such as the kids who were on the school bus, are put in special interest-bearing accounts that aren't available until the child is an adult, although some of the money can be used before then for medical expenses. Holden said some survivors had been wary of such "structured settlements" because of the troubles on Wall Street, but the companies that provide such settlements must meet strict requirements and settlements involving minors must be court-approved.

'Not even close'

Ebling, 34, was in the hospital for two months after his car plunged toward the Mississippi River. The bones in his face shattered, his seat belt severed his colon, both of his feet and his left arm were broken. He accepted his settlement but estimates that it was less than one-sixth of the damages he's faced or will face in terms of wages, medical bills and other costs.

"Nobody received what their total damages were, not even close," Ebling said. "It was a finite pool of money, and it was what it was."

Even with the limitations, Ebling offered praise for the panel and the process.

"They did a good job in allocating the funds that they had available in the fairest way that was possible."

Sandy Cermak agrees. She and her husband didn't have any medical expenses, just a few thousand dollars of out-of-pocket costs related to the loss of their vehicle and some personal property.

"We got very little money," said Sandy Cermak, but "that's OK. The people who got really hurt should get the money."

By accepting money from the fund, survivors are waiving their right to make claims against the state, but this week's deadline may be only the beginning of settlements related to the collapse.

Several survivors and relatives of those who died have sued URS, a consulting firm that analyzed the bridge's integrity, and PCI, the construction company that was working on the deck the day it collapsed. More than 100 other survivors are part of a pro bono group that is planning to sue the two companies this spring.

Jim Foti • 612-673-4491

Survivor Garrett Ebling praised the panel's work, but he estimated his settlement was less than one-sixth of the damages he's faced or will face. (Dml - Star Tribune Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)