Lawsuit Filed over Atlanta Bridge Collapse

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The widow of a construction worker killed when a pedestrian bridge collapsed at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in 2008 has filed a lawsuit against the attraction and several construction companies.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Eucebia Lopez Carbajal, the widow of 66-year-old Angel Chupin, filed suit this week in Fulton County State Court. The newspaper reports that three workers injured when the elevated walkway collapsed also have filed lawsuits.

All four men worked for a subcontractor that pours concrete foundations.

The lawsuits accuse the garden and the companies of failing to protect the workers building the “Canopy Walk,” which is now open to the public.

Garden spokesman Danny Flanders told the newspaper that garden officials know “these families want answers, just like we all do.”

Speaking Friday, the family’s lawyer, Mike Moran, said Chupin’s survivors seek to recover the full value of his life.

The December 2008 accident that killed Chupin and injured another 18 workers occurred during construction of a soaring pedestrian walkway designed to give visitors a view of the garden from 40 feet above ground.

The men were hurt when part of the elevated path crumbled, sending workers toppling dozens of feet to the ground. Several workers suffered fractures and spinal injuries.

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration report later determined the accident may have been caused by two support towers that were placed too far from each other. The federal agency also referenced a failure to properly inspect the shoring equipment before the concrete pour as a factor in fines ranging from around $5,000 to $15,000 issued against three of the companies involved in the walkway’s construction.

Phil Torchio, president of Williams Erection Co., a defendant in the case, said he was aware of the lawsuits.

“Everybody here feels terrible about everyone who was injured and certainly Mr. Chupin who was killed,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, declining further comment.

The completed Canopy Walk opened this spring.