Topline
The same day the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott announced that the city would pursue legal action against the owners of the M/V Dali container ship that crashed into the bridge last month—but the Singaporean company has already moved to avoid liability for the devastating crash.
Key Facts
Baltimore City Solicitor Ebony M. Thompson announced Monday that the city would move to hold the Dali’s “owner, charterer, manager/operator, manufacturer, and others accountable” for the “substantial and ongoing economic losses,” as well as the environmental toll on the Patapsco River and the distress on the city’s residents and businesses.
However, Grace Ocean Private Limited, the owners of the Dali and Synergy Marine Group, the ship’s operators, filed a preemptive petition on April 1 to limit their liability for the crash—only six days after the deadly collision.
They also asked the court to limit any payouts from the collision to the value of the vessel and the value of the cargo it was carrying when it struck the bridge—which lawyers estimated was worth a combined $43,670,000.
It is currently too early to tell exactly how much damage the collapse has caused, but insurance experts predicted it could cost anywhere between $2 billion and $4 billion, the Washington Post reported.
What Laws Are The Dali’s Owners Using To Avoid Liability?
Lawyers for Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine Group filed a petition for exoneration under the Limitation of Liability Act, a law passed by Congress in 1851. The act is sometimes referred to as the “Titanic Law,” after the owners of the famous ocean liner that sank in 1912 used the law to pay only $664,000 to hundreds of claimants who originally sought a $16 million compensation. The law states that “the liability of the owner of a vessel for any claim, debt, or liability described in subsection (b) shall not exceed the value of the vessel and pending freight.” The law protects owners from facing claims for a wide variety of scenarios, including embezzlement, destruction of property, and “any loss, damage, or injury by collision”—as long as they happened “without the privity or knowledge of the owner.” Attorneys for the two companies said the Key Bridge collapse was “not due to any fault, neglect, or want of care” from the operators or owners, and that any potential problems that occurred on the Dali happened without their “privity or knowledge.”
Surprising Fact
In an announcement on Monday, Mayor Scott said Baltimore would retain the services of two law firms for the pending litigation—litigators DiCello Levitt and trial law firm Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky. In 2022, a partner at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky helped secure a $1.2 billion settlement deal after the Champlain Towers condominium collapsed in Surfside, Florida, killing 98 people. The massive payout was the largest single-event settlement in U.S. history, trade publication American Lawyer reported.
Key Background
Monday’s announcement came the same day the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the bridge collapse, according to a report in the Washington Post. Federal agents were seen boarding the boat around 6:30 a.m., and the FBI confirmed to Forbes that agents conducted “court authorized law enforcement activity.” The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting its own investigation into the failure of the ship’s propulsion system and the bridge collapse.