‘They dropped the ball’ | Family settles $40 million lawsuit over nonfunctional guardrail

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Life was looking good for Catrice Hunter in 2018. The 30-year-old just landed a job promotion and a new place to live with her two daughters.

“Things were looking great for her,” said Clarissa Hunter, Catrice’s aunt. “And then, boom, the accident.”

On June 3, 2018, Catrice’s SUV went over a guardrail on I-85 in Atlanta and slammed into a steel pole on the other side, killing her.

When first responders arrived at the scene, even they were stunned by the damage. “There ain’t no way. She can’t be alive,” said an unidentified police officer heard on body camera video.

Images from Google’s Street View platform show the guardrail Catrice hit was damaged and deemed non-functional at least 10 months before the crash.

Guardrails are intended to keep drivers safe in case of an accident and to prevent vehicles from oncoming traffic or hitting something. But when the barriers are damaged or defective, they can’t protect drivers.

At the time, Martin Robbins Fence Company was the state contractor hired to repair damaged guardrails in the metro Atlanta area.

According to nearly two dozen letters and emails obtained from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), the state repeatedly notified the company for years it wasn’t making repairs within 21 days, required by its contract.

“The department is seeking a resolution to the failure of performance,” said Jason Moore, a GDOT district maintenance manager in a letter sent to Martin-Robins on April 17, 2018, 47 days before Hunter’s crash.

Catrice Hunter's vehicle after the crash(WANF-TV, Gray TV)

“The department is concerned with Martin Robbin’s performance with repairing attenuators, guardrail and cable barriers in the time frame stated within the contracts,” said Moore in another letter to the company sent in September 2016.

“Catrice is dead and deceased because they dropped the ball,” said Clarissa.

“One of the most egregious facts of this case to me was that from day one, all of the defendants itted that they didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” said Matt Kahn, one of the attorneys who represented Catrice’s family in a lawsuit.

While Martin Robbins, GDOT and another state contractor did not it liability, it agreed to pay $40 million to Catrice’s family and a enger who survived as part of a settlement. The state paid $3 million of that amount.

Five years after Catrice’s death, and taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars, an Atlanta News First investigation uncovered the state continues to struggle meeting its guardrail repair deadline.

According to state repair logs, of the 370 defective guardrails identified in a December 2023 GDOT report, more than a third of the repairs, or 33%, took longer than the required 21-day time frame.

Some of the repairs took more than 100 days.

Crash tests reveal guardrails failed to protect Tesla, Rivian vehicles

The December report identified guardrails that were reconstructed using multiple manufacturer parts, sometimes colloquially called “Frankenstein Guardrails.”

“I’d love to tell you I was surprised, but I’m not. And what we’ve seen of the industry and the way it operates is frankly not encouraging,” said Jeb Butler, another attorney who represented Hunter’s family.

Click HERE to report a damaged guardrail to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

GDOT Responds

Russell McMurry is the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation. While he declined interview requests for this story, a spokesperson provided a statement to address the settlement and the Atlanta News First’s findings.

“Any injury or fatality that occurs on Georgia roadways is devastating to all concerned. We at Georgia DOT place the highest priority on safety and aim to make our roadways as safe as possible,” said Natalie Dale, GDOT’s spokesperson in an email.

Dale also said guardrail contractors have faced supply chain issues, workforce shortages and increased liability over the past decade, which contribute to repair delays.

In a letter to the transportation agency in May 2018, Martin Robbins recognized the problem impacting repair delays.

“Another issue we are faced with is it is taking three to four weeks to get our inventory orders filled. While we maintain a large inventory, this is becoming an issue for some items,” said Tommy Martin, the company’s president.

In September 2018, GDOT notified Martin Robbins that it would not be renewing its contract, but four years later, it rehired the company to repair guardrails in a different part of the state. The current contract is worth $1.8 million.

Since the state rehired Martin Robbins 2020, GDOT says it has met the 21-day deadline 80 percent of the time.

This is an example of one of the many damaged guardrails around metro Atlanta.(WANF)

Martin Robbins Responds

In a statement sent to Atlanta News First, Martin Robbins says repair delays in 2018 were due to an unexpected dramatic rise in repair requests because GDOT hired a contractor to identify damaged guardrails without telling the company.

Before then, Martin Robins says GDOT largely relied on its own employees, citizens and law enforcement to call in damage when they noticed it. That changed in 2018 when GDOT hired the contractor to drive around searching of damaged guardrails.

“Without warning, though, in March 2018, GDOT’s repair requests exploded. Where it had previously requested 50 per month, in a single week GDOT requested more than 150 repairs. It was only then Martin Robbins learned about GDOT hiring the third-party to seek out repairs,” said Tommy Martin, the company’s president in an email.

During that time, Martin says his team struggled to meet repair deadlines.

“Additionally, GDOT had crews in other areas of Georgia that routinely perform guardrail repair. Yet they never asked those crews to come assist in the metro Atlanta area,” said Martin

Atlanta News First provided detailed records identifying the repair delays to state Senator Greg Dolezal and Representative Rick Jasperse. Both chair transportation committees in the General Assembly, which have oversight of GDOT.

Both also declined to provide a response about the guardrail repair delays or the multi-million-dollar settlement.

Catrice’s aunt hopes the agency and lawmakers will take guardrail repairs more seriously.

“I hope and pray that another family doesn’t have to go through what we’ve had to go through,” said Clarissa.

In 2011, GDOT engaged Martin Robbins to perform guardrail maintenance in the metro Atlanta area for one year. Under that contract, GDOT was responsible for identifying damaged guardrails and reporting them to Martin Robbins. GDOT relied on its own employees and citizens to call in damage when they noticed it, and on law enforcement to report damage at accident scenes. Notably, GDOT did not task any of its employees or any third-party with seeking out those damaged guardrails. GDOT renewed its 2011 contract with Martin Robbins six times—the maximum number of renewals allowed by law-- with the final contract renewal expiring in June 2017. During that time, the number of repairs GDOT requested was relatively consistent, averaging approximately 50 repairs per month.

GDOT put the contract out for bid in the summer 2017 and awarded it to Martin Robbins in September 2017. Unbeknownst to Martin Robbins, between the old contract ending and the new one beginning, GDOT had engaged a third-party to identify damaged guardrails. That entity was specifically tasked with driving routes looking for damage. GDOT did not inform Martin Robbins of this change, nor did it include language referencing the third party in the September 2017 contract.

From September 2017 until February 2018, the number of repairs requested by GDOT remained consistent with the prior contracts: approximately 50 repairs per month. Without warning, though, in March 2018, GDOT’s repair requests exploded. Where it had previously requested 50 per month, in a single week GDOT requested more than 150 repairs. It was only then Martin Robbins learned about GDOT hiring the third-party to seek out repairs. Martin Robbins later learned that instead of having that third-party report damaged guardrails to Martin Robbins as they discovered them, GDOT allowed the third-party to drive around for months making lists of damaged locations but not relaying them to Martin Robbins. This resulted in GDOT sending those lists—which included hundreds of repairs collected over several months—to Martin Robbins beginning in March 2018. GDOT continued to send such lists through June 2018. For context, GDOT requested 168 locations in March, more than 350 in April 2018, more than 200 in May 2018, and more than 300 in June 2018.

Martin Robbins promptly informed GDOT it did not have the capacity to repair the volume requested within the contractual timeframe. Regardless, Martin Robbins did its best to meet GDOT’s unreasonable demands. It located a subcontractor to supplement its work and pulled crews from other projects. All of Martin Robbins’ superintendents and project managers worked overtime every week from March 2018 until June 2018. Martin Robbins repaired more than 300 locations in April and May 2018 alone. Notably, GDOT had the option to hire another contractor to assist on this work, but never made any attempt to do so. Additionally, GDOT had crews in other areas of Georgia that routinely perform guardrail repair. Yet they never asked those crews to come assist in the metro Atlanta area.

It seems GDOT knew the number of repairs it requested Martin Robbins perform under the Sept. 2017 contract was unreasonable. When the contract was re-bid in 2018, GDOT split the metro Atlanta into separate contracts with three contractors responsible for smaller geographic areas. Martin Robbins declined to bid on any of those contracts due to GDOT’s handling of the prior year’s contract.

Tommy Martin, Martin Robbins

If there’s something you would like Atlanta News First Investigative Reporter Andy Pierrotti to look into, email [email protected].