MIAMI _ The federal government agency investigating the fatal Florida International University Bridge collapse is seeking to move a public records case to federal court after an unfavorable ruling from a state judge earlier this week.
In a court filing Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida said a federal judge should decide whether to release crucial public records in the case.
The records, which are being sought by the Miami Herald in a state court lawsuit against the Florida Department of Transportation, may explain why state officials failed to close the road under the bridge. The 950-ton bridge was developing severe cracks in the days before it collapsed on March 15, killing six people.
The U.S. Attorney's Office is representing the National Transportation Safety Board, which has so far blocked many documents held by FDOT and FIU from becoming public.
The federal legal maneuver will further delay the release of the records.
NTSB is not a defendant in the case. The Miami Herald sued FDOT in state court in May to obtain the records.
On Tuesday, Leon County Circuit Court judge Kevin Carroll ruled that FDOT must release the records _ which include minutes and other documents from a meeting held the morning of the collapse to discuss the cracks _ by Thursday. Carroll said federal regulations cited by FDOT did not apply to the records and could not be used to pre-empt Florida's public-records law.
"We believe these records are public, and our position has been upheld by state court," said Aminda Marques Gonzalez, the Herald's executive editor. "We regret the U.S. Attorney's Office move to delay their release."
Ed Seifert, a spokesman for FDOT, said the agency had been ready to comply with Carroll's order.
"By filing documents to remove this case to federal court today, the NTSB has blocked our action," Seifert said. "FDOT has never disputed that these are public records."
A spokesman for NTSB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If the NTSB loses in federal court, it is still possible that FDOT may be able to appeal the decision in state court. Seifert did not immediately respond when asked if FDOT was still considering the possibility of an appeal.
Federal district courts generally do not review the decisions of state courts. But federal lawyers argued in Thursday's notice for removal that the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida should grant the case a new hearing because FDOT was acting under instructions from the NTSB.
"A 'civil action' commenced in state court against or directed to federal agencies or entities acting under such authority can be removed to a federal district court for proper disposition," the notice read.
The NTSB has said releasing records from after Feb. 19 will threaten its investigation. It has prevented the cooperating "parties" to its investigation from releasing those records in response to public records requests. Those parties include FIU, which primarily oversaw the project, FDOT, designers FIGG Bridge Group and construction firm Munilla Construction Management. While the NTSB chose not to intervene in the state court case, federal lawyers did file a "statement of interest" laying out the government's position this summer.
"Once the direction and focus of an ongoing investigation is revealed, evidence can disappear, and witnesses change their stories," the office of U.S. Attorney Christopher Canova wrote in a July court filing. "Additionally, once information is prematurely released, the parties to the investigation face increased public pressure to comment and defend themselves to the media."
The bridge suffered from a critical design flaw that may have doomed it to failure, according to independent engineers who studied its plans at the Herald's request. The cracks were a warning sign that the bridge was dangerous and that Southwest Eighth Street, which ran under it, should have been closed down, the experts said.
Stuart Grossman, an attorney for survivor Richard Humble, who is suing the firms behind the project, said that NTSB seeking a federal court hearing after it lost in state court was "unheard of" and seemed "like a cover-up."
"It's an urban massacre that occurred in plain sight," Grossman said. "Lives were lost. Lives were altered forever. Why does the government want to keep these records from its citizens?"
