A judge rejects a lawsuit filed by companies affiliated with a firm that designed the collapsed FIU pedestrian bridge

A U.S. district judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Tallahassee-based companies that could be prevented from working on federally funded projects after being affiliated with an engineering firm that designed a collapsed Florida International University pedestrian bridge.

Judge Allen Winsor last week issued a 10-page decision that sided with the Federal Highway Administration in the lawsuit filed in March by nine companies and their owner, Linda Figg.

The companies are affiliated with FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc., which designed the Miami-Dade County pedestrian bridge that collapsed in 2018, crushing cars and killing five motorists and one construction worker.

FIGG Bridge Engineers was blocked in 2021 from working on federally funded projects until 2029.

The lawsuit sought to block a proposal by the Federal Highway Administration that could keep the affiliated companies off federally funded projects, or what is known as “debarment.”

Part of the case focused on the federal Administrative Procedure Act, but Winsor said the companies did not meet a requirement of showing “final agency action” by the Federal Highway Administration.

“In responding to the (federal government’s) motion to dismiss, they point to their allegations that the proposal is preventing them from obtaining new projects, has caused reputational harms, and is eroding the companies’ market value,” the decision said. “That may be so, but that does not make the proposed debarment final agency action as a legal matter. Even if plaintiffs face practical consequences, they have not shown that ‘legal consequences’ flow from the proposal.”

While he dismissed the lawsuit, Winsor left open the possibility that the companies could file a revised version.