The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which carries Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River, was hit by the 948-foot Dali container ship, causing critical damage and collapse. Tragically, this appears to be a multi-casualty event.
We have researched the path via AIS transponder reporting software and are recording for future research:
The name of the vessel was Dali, a Singapore registered vessel apparently owned by Stellar Marine LLC. It was built in 2015 and appears to be managed by Synergy Marine Group and currently time chartered to Maersk.
We have experience in maritime injury litigation. In one example, our firm successfully resolved claims for multiple injured parties against Weeks Marine. These case are primarily governed by United States Federal law, although state law determines certain aspects of the case. Click below to read an example complaint.
Legal claims pursued against vessel owners and operators can be quite complex and requires an undestanding of applicable law unique to maritime claims.
When a person is injured while either (a) at sea or (b) on land due to the negligence of the operator of a vessel on the navigable waters of the United States, bringing a claim for compensation can be procedurally difficult and is fraught with pitfalls for would-be claimants. This is due to an archaic law known as the Limitation of Liability Act of 1851, which gives the owner of the involved vessel the right to either sue the claimants offensively to limit their liability or to assert limitation of liability as a defense if the owner is sued first. In either case, the vessel owner can attempt to limit their liability to the value of the vessel along with all pending freight simply by filing the appropriate pleading within six months of the incident. This has a potentially devastating impact on victims of maritime incidents as federal courts will enjoin and stop any liability actions currently pending from proceeding. More importantly, the Court will require, in what is known as “concursus,” that future claims be filed in the same limitation action filed by the vessel owner and set a tight deadline in which to file the claim. If claimants fail to meet the Court’s deadline, then their claim will be potentially barred.
Because the filing of a limitation action binds the hands of claimants and prevents further discovery, it is very important that claimants understand how to defeat limitation actions for two reasons. First, the value of the vessel and pending cargo is usually far lower than the available insurance which can be in the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not a billion dollars. Second, it is only through extensive discovery, digging into the corporate malfeasance that led to the incident, that claimants can achieve full compensation. In order to beat this claim or defense of limitation of liability, the claimants have several options at each stage of the proceeding. However, these options must be exercised as quickly as possible as claimants lose rights at each stage of the proceeding if they do not assert them timely. As one example, in order for the concursus to proceed the vessel owner must deposit with the Court the estimated value of the vessel and cargo. Claimants have the right to contest the value by retaining their own experts to estimate the value, but they must do so timely.
Ultimately, In order for claimants to prevail, claimants must show that the incident that harmed them was due to either the lack of seaworthiness of the vessel or due to negligence of the captain or crew. Both of these issues require very specialized knowledge that only experienced maritime lawyers should approach. Assuming claimants can meet their burden and establish either of these points, the burden of proof then shifts to the vessel owner to show that they had no privity of knowledge. This is a factually intensive analysis that requires lawyers who specialize in maritime accidents. If you or a loved one have been harmed in a maritime incident, please call Karsman, McKenzie & Hart for a free consultation to discuss your rights with one of our experienced maritime lawyers.
