Providence attorney Max Wistow speaks at a news conference on April 5, 2024. To his left is Jonathan Savage, a leading public sector litigator who specializes in construction law. Both were tapped by Gov. Dan McKee to lead the state’s legal efforts in the ongoing Washington Bridge saga. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
One of the lead attorneys behind the state’s lawsuit against the 13 companies that worked on the westbound Washington Bridge is no longer involved in the case — just one day after companies requested the lawsuit be dismissed.
Max Wistow, the Providence attorney hired by Gov. Dan McKee’s administration in April to argue the case, withdrew for “professional reasons,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronah’s office announced Friday.
Wistow’s firm has been replaced by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, a Washington, DC firm that has secured more than $650 million from defendants in the Flint, Michigan, water quality crisis.
Savage Law Partners, which was also contracted by the state in April, remains on the case.
“Our preference would have been for him to be part of the trial team, but we respect his decision and are grateful that he has agreed to remain on the case until we find replacement counsel,” office spokesman Timothy Rondeau said of Wistow in a declaration. Friday.
“My administration is grateful to Max Wistow for the groundwork he has already laid, and we look forward to continuing this work with the law firm Cohen Milstein,” McKee said in a statement Monday.
Wistow led the state’s efforts recover approximately $61 million from the now-defunct 38 Studios, run by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. The ill-fated video game company accepted $75 million in loans from the state of Rhode Island in 2010 to relocate from Massachusetts, only to lay off all its employees and declare bankruptcy two years later.
Wistow, along with Providence attorney Jonathan Savage, laid the groundwork for the Washington Bridge case from April to early August. Neronha’s office took the leading role.
The lawsuit was officially filed on August 16 and alleges a sweeping series of contract breaches and negligence on the part of contractors who the state alleged for decades failed to detect or report structural problems prior to the bridge’s sudden closure last December.
The announcement of Wistow’s departure came a day after the contractors named as defendants asked the Providence Superior Court to dismiss the state’s case, alleging that McKee’s administration was using the case to shift blame.
“The state’s blame game is political and without a defensible legal basis,” the Barletta/Aetna joint venture document said.
No comments on the motion had been filed as of Monday.
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