Family vows to pursue tunnel victim's dreams

Milena Del Valle had many dreams.

She had wanted to build a house with her husband, to fix up her mother's home in Costa Rica, to bring a son to the United States so he could study, and to help her daughter, Raquel Ibarra Mora , open an ice cream shop.

When the 38-year-old mother of three was killed in the Big Dig tunnel ceiling collapse on July 10, her husband, Angel, who was with her when she died, said he vowed to make those dreams come true.

If the family wins a wrongful death lawsuit filed Tuesday against the nine companies and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Angel Del Valle said yesterday that much of the money would go to fulfill his wife's plans.

But Del Valle, 46, who wept during a press conference, said the goal of the lawsuit is not to receive a large award, but to hold accountable the organizations that he and his stepdaughter say are responsible for Milena Del Valle's death. ``Many people are thinking about money," he said. ``I don't care at all . . . We want justice."

``Maybe God chose me and Milena so a bigger tragedy wouldn't happen," Del Valle said.

Del Valle and Mora allege that the firms and the state were negligent in the design and construction of the Interstate 90 connector tunnel, where Del Valle was killed as she and her husband drove to Logan International Airport.

Most of the firms have declined to comment on the lawsuit.

``There is no question the family was hurt. It just wasn't by us," said Tracy Miner , a lawyer for Aggregate Industries of Maryland, who disputed the lawsuit's claims that the company provided concrete for the I-90 ceiling.

``We have the utmost sympathy for the family," said Martin Levin , a lawyer for Powers Fasteners, the New York company which the lawsuit alleges supplied epoxy fasteners. ``However, Powers is confident that Powers in no way caused this tragic accident."

Jon Carlisle , a spokesman for the Turnpike Authority, which has expressed interest in meeting with the family and lawyers, declined to comment yesterday on whether the state would be willing to settle.

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.