$19M Claim Filed against Maryland Transportation Authority, Others for Wrongful Deaths

In a $19 million wrongful-death lawsuit filed earlier this month, the families of James Hewitt Ingle and father and son Randall and Jonathan Orff argue the Maryland Transportation Authority was negligent May 10, 2007, when it allowed two-way traffic on the Bay Bridge's westbound span.

They noted previous wrecks and fatalities while two-way traffic was in effect on the bridge, and said the state should have known it needed barriers to separate lanes and a notification system to warn drivers of the "dangerous and perilous condition" awaiting them.

Police said "no current regulations exist that can be applied to the proper securement of a trailer by the public in a noncommercial manner," and prosecutors said "it is unlikely that a reasonable person would have anticipated that the trailer would break loose."

Fifteen months after Ingle and the Orffs were killed on the westbound span of the bridge, there was another fatal accident on the eastbound span. Two-way traffic also was in effect that day.