Bridge collapse victim's fiancee hires attorney

The mother of Hopple Street bridge collapse victim Brandon Carl's children has hired a high-powered Cincinnati attorney, The Enquirer learned Monday.

Mark Hayden, a partner at Downtown-based Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, said he has been hired to represent Carl's fiancee, Kendra Blair, and four children in the wake of the Jan. 19 incident that killed the 35-year-old construction foreman from Augusta, Kentucky.

No lawsuit has been filed. Hayden said he is not certain yet whether he will file a lawsuit in federal or state court.

"It's really early at this point," Hayden said. "We're conducting an investigation of the incident, but we don't have answers."

Officials for the Ohio Department of Transportation and Columbus-based Kokosing Construction Co., said they anticipate litigation. Kokosing is the lead contractor on a $91 million project that is remaking part of I-75, including rebuilding the Hopple Street interchange.

Carl was standing on the overpass as Kokosing workers prepared to demolish the bridge. Independent experts have suggested Kokosing didn't go about demolishing the bridge properly and subsequent late engineering changes to that plan were flawed. Prior to the start of the demolition process, the bridge was considered structurally sound, according to federal data.

Kokosing officials told The Enquirer last week that company executives have visited Carl's family since the incident, and the company's employees made a monetary donation to help Carl's fiancee and children. Blair and the children continue to live in Bracken County.

Hayden is a former Campbell County commissioner whose expertise includes insurance and construction litigation. He has been the lead counsel "in more than 25 jury trials for both plaintiffs and defendants, and has one of the largest jury verdicts in a commercial dispute in Kentucky," according to his online bio.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and ODOT continue separate investigations of the incident.