BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - The Massachusetts Department of Transportation faces a wrongful death lawsuit over the guardrails that line Route 3 in Plymouth County.
The Estate of Marcos Medeiros Dos Santos filed suit March 10 in Suffolk Superior Court against MDOT and Aggregate Industries - Northeast Region, Inc., as well as an unknown guardrail company.
Dos Santos was traveling north on Route 3 in the Duxbury area on April 2, 2019, when his vehicle lost control and hit the guardrail in the center median.
"Instead of the guardrail lessening the risk of serious injury when struck by a vehicle, by preventing it from going off the highway and tumbling into the median, its W-Beam snapped off the end terminal, swung through Dos Santos' vehicle's windshield and decapitated Dos Santos," the suit says.
MDOT has authority over Route 3, a state highway, and Aggregate was contracted to be responsible for its care and upkeep, the suit says. Further discovery will reveal the manufacturer of the guardrail.
Dos Santos left behind a wife and two children. He was 43 years old.
The plaintiff is represented by Kevin McMahon and Ludovino Gardini of Perez Gardini in Waltham.