Skanska files appeal in Pensacola Bay Bridge case, which could again halt commuter cases

Skanska has filed a federal court appeal aiming to overturn a local judge's ruling that the company was negligent in its actions before Hurricane Sally, a move that could delay adjacent lawsuits filed by homeowners, commuters and businesses that are still suffering.

When the storm hit in September 2020, 27 of 55 Skanska barges being used to construct the Pensacola Bay Bridge broke loose, causing significant damage to the bridge, as well as some shoreside property.

U.S. District Court Judge Lacey Collier ruled in December that Skanska should have done more to prepare for the storm than to tie its barges to pilings in the Pensacola Bay, and that its executives should have known based on weather reports that there was a chance the storm would directly impact Pensacola.

More: Skanska loses Hurricane Sally trial. Judge finds company negligent for failing to prepare.

More: Class action lawsuit against Skanska seeks compensation for Pensacola commuters

The crux of the federal case was an attempt by Skanska to exonerate itself from any financial liability for the barges' destruction, or to limit to the value of the barges at about $1.2 million. Skanska claimed the impact of the storm was stronger than predicted and they did as much as possible to prepare, so they should not be held financially liable for the damage the loose barges caused.

The appeal document filed last week is not a surprise as Skanska had indicated soon after the ruling it would seek review, but it does cast doubt over whether a class action lawsuit and the cases of more than 1,000 plaintiffs can move ahead in state court while the appeal is ongoing.

The plaintiffs are made up of people like business owners, commuters, government entities and residents who experience either physical damage — such as a barge washing up on their land — or economic impacts when the nine-month closure of the Pensacola Bay Bridge impacted travel times and passerby traffic to businesses.

Many of the businesses who filed suits in the months after Hurricane Sally went out of business soon after or are still struggling to recover financially from the loss.

Yoko McKnight, who owns Flowers by Yoko in Gulf Breeze, is one of the lawsuit plaintiffs who said she's still struggling from the impacts of the bridge outage.

Her business is directly at the foot of the bridge and while it's not the type of business that would get a lot of passerby traffic like, say, a fast food store, the bridge outage was enough for her to briefly consider relocating the business if it wasn't for such high rental prices elsewhere.

"It was a nightmare," she said. "Anything (north) of Gulf Breeze High School was just dead. I've been surviving, barely surviving, and it's just enough to pay the rent some months."

McKnight said during the bridge's outage, she'd have to frequently make the longer commute around the Garcon Point Bridge to her flower wholesaler in Pensacola, a usually 15-minute trip that turned into sometimes hours during peak traffic times.

"If somebody said, 'Hey, Yoko, can you send me one dozen pink roses today?' I'd have to go around the bay and come to Pensacola, which would take me an hour and a half to do," she said.

The commute times have been back to normal for a while now, but she said she hopes the lawsuits can move forward quickly as she is still seeing other businesses neighboring her closing or rebuilding.

McKnight and the hundreds of other plaintiffs who filed suit in the months after the storm had their cases put on hold as the issues of Skanska's alleged negligence played out in federal court this last year.

Collier's ruling last month freed those cases to resume, but it will be up to Collier or a federal appeals judge to decide whether the state court plaintiffs can move ahead in seeking financial compensation from the construction company while the appeal is pending.

Skanska representatives did not comment on the appeal filing this week, but referred to their previous statement saying the company was "extremely disappointed" by the ruling.

"Skanska remains adamant that it took all appropriate measures with the information available at the time to prepare for the storm," the statement reads.

Sam Geisler, an Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis and Overholtz attorney representing the plaintiffs in both federal and state courts, said Wednesday that he expects the appeal won't have any significant action until at least this summer.

"The big question is whether that will stop the state court litigation or not," Geisler said.

The next step in the state court cases would be to certify a class action status for commuters, an endeavor Geisler said he's confident in because it's relatively straightforward to calculate the financial impact of a commuter by factoring in their home, their work address and the frequency they took alternate routes during the bridge’s outage.

There is not yet a timeline for when the federal court will decide on the motion to halt the state court cases during appeal.

Emma Kennedy can be reached at ekennedy@pnj.com or 850-480-6979.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Bay Bridge lawsuit: Skanska files appeal after judge's decision