On March 26, a containership named for Spanish painter Salvador Dalí lost power after leaving the Port of Baltimore and collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The resulting collapse shut down traffic to and from the Port for months and killed six maintenance workers who were on the structure at the time of the collision.
Five days after the accident, the Singaporean owners of the Dalí filed a Petition for Exoneration from or Limitation of Liability in the District Court of Maryland. Grace Ocean Private Limited, which owns the ship, and Synergy Marine PTE Ltd, which managed it, disclaim all liability. But if Judge James Bredar somehow manages to find them culpable, they seek to cabin their losses at $44 million dollars:
In the alternative, if the Court determines that Owner and/or Synergy is liable, that such liability be limited to the value of the Vessel and its pending freight in connection with the voyage, and that Petitioner(s) be discharged therefrom upon the surrender of such interest, and that the money surrendered, paid, or secured to be paid be divided pro-rata among the claimants that are successful in proving their claims, reserving to all parties any priorities to which they may be legally entitled, and that a decree may be entered discharging Petitioner(s) from all further liability;
The City of Baltimore and the other parties harmed by the bridge collapse and the massive economic fallout caused by shutting down the port for weeks have other ideas. They want all the money the Dalí’s owners have now or will have for the rest of their lives. And so does the US government, which yesterday filed a $100 million counterclaim alleging that the Dalí was literally shaking itself into pieces when it attempted to navigate to open waters via the Patapsco River. The feds claim that the constant vibrations were known to its operators, that the multiple technical failures that let to it hitting the bridge were totally predictable, and that the disaster was compounded by the Dalí crew’s numerous errors.
The federal cleanup effort involved the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Labor Department also got involved through federal grants to displaced workers.
“The United States incurred losses and damages as a result of Petitioners’ negligence in the total amount of approximately $103,078,056,” the Justice Department wrote, demanding reimbursement for negligence under the General Maritime Law, as well as violations of the Rivers and Harbors Act, and the Oil Pollution Act.
“Out of negligence, mismanagement, and, at times, a desire to cut costs, they configured the ship’s electrical and mechanical systems in a way that prevented those systems from being able to quickly restore propulsion and steering after a power outage,” Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said at a press conference in DC announcing the filing. “As a result, when the DALI lost power, a cascading set of failures led to disaster.”
The feds want punitive damages, too. And that $103 million doesn’t even include the damage to the bridge itself, which is owned and operated by the State of Maryland. Other claimants have until Tuesday to file their own accounting with the court.
Judge Bredar will have his work cut out for him.
In the Matter of the Petition of Grace Ocean Private Limited for Exoneration from or Limitation of Liability [Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.