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UDOT cleared in Duchesne Co. sinkhole death

Posted at 9:58 PM, Mar 29, 2013
and last updated 2013-03-29 23:58:04-04

DUCHESNE COUNTY, Utah – The Utah Department of Transportation is cleared in a lawsuit connected to a jammed culvert that washed out a road in Duchesne County.

In July 2011, 15-year-old Justine Barnek died after the car she and her dad were in crashed into the sinkhole, which was 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

Those two parties tried suing UDOT for wrongful death, but a district court judge ruled that the agency can’t be sued because the Utah Governmental Immunity Act prohibits it.