Legal Battles Over Baltimore Bridge Collapse May Take Years

Legal proceedings tied to one of this year’s most notorious shipping accidents are expected to stretch on for many years, with costs potentially reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.

Lawyers representing three families who lost loved ones in the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge six months ago have filed lawsuits against the owners of the Dali containership for personal injuries. This adds to the growing number of legal claims surrounding the vessel, which is scheduled to depart the U.S. this week and head to China for extensive repairs.

The families of three of the six victims from the bridge disaster are requesting that a federal court hold Grace Ocean, a Singapore-based company that owns the Dali, accountable for the maritime incident, preventing them from avoiding liability.

Last month, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, seeking to increase the financial penalty for the owners of the Dali to up to 10 times the amount of damages caused when the ship struck the bridge.

In May, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report on the fatal allision of the Dali containership with Baltimore’s largest bridge. 

The ship, managed by Synergy Group and chartered to Maersk, experienced electrical failures about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore and again just before it collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge.