A year and a half after six construction workers were killed in a work zone on Interstate 695 in Baltimore County, the family of one of the workers is suing the state of Maryland and a Gaithersburg-based contracting company.
The family of Sybil DiMaggio, a 46-year-old mother of two from Glen Burnie, filed a civil case against the state and Concrete General, Inc., alleging negligent safety practices that led to her death when a car crashed into the work site on March 22, 2023. The attorney representing the family, Catherine Dickinson, told WTOP the family is seeking monetary damages.
“Concrete General in particular, as well as the state of Maryland, had certain responsibilities with respect to the safety of the construction site,” Dickinson said. “There were measures that were either not taken or undertaken negligently that led to the circumstances that allowed Ms. DiMaggio and the other individuals to be killed.”
Traffic control signs to warn drivers and protect workers were not posted near the work zone, according to a September 2023 report by Maryland’s Occupational Safety and Health Office. The State Highway Administration was cited with a “serious violation,” which, according to the report, is a violation “where there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result.”
The report also stated that the failure to place the signs near the work zone near Woodlawn left the work crew exposed to “struck-by hazards.” There were no penalties associated with the citation.
Two drivers, who police said were speeding as they approached the work zone, collided, before one of the cars, driven by 54-year-old Lisa Lea, of Randallstown, entered the work zone and struck the six members of the highway crew inside the work zone.
The family’s lawsuit also accuses the two drivers of negligence.
“The lawsuit itself is related to the compensatory damages of the family, the economic loss to them, as well as the noneconomic loss, which is essentially pain and suffering related to this incident and the loss of that family member,” Dickinson said. “This is obviously a tragedy. Her family has been left a pretty profound loss.”
The firm is not representing any of the other families that lost loved ones in the crash.
WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander and Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
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