Owner of ship that destroyed Key Bridge files limitation of liability action in federal court

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By Madeleine O’Neill
BridgeTower Media Newswires

The owner of the ship that toppled Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge appears to be seeking to cap the amount of damages that the company can be forced to pay following the deadly crash.

The Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd. indicated it will file a “limitation of liability” action in federal court Monday, invoking a little-known statute used in maritime law. The filing itself is not yet available, but a docket in U.S. District Court in Maryland showed the company has initiated an action involving limitation of liability, a key move that maritime lawyers said would be likely to take place soon after the disaster.

Under the Limitation of Liability Act of 1851, ship owners can try to stanch the flood of claims after a maritime accident and limit their exposure to the value of the vessel plus its “pending freight.” If successful, the move means Grace Ocean Private Ltd. will be on the hook for far less money than the cost of rebuilding the Key Bridge or other major claims. At minimum, though, the owner will have to put up a fund of at least $420 per ton, or nearly $40 million, because this case involves personal injury and death claims.

Two construction workers who were on the bridge when it collapsed were found dead in a pickup truck in the Patapsco River; four more are presumed dead and two other workers survived the crash. Members of the ship’s crew were reported safe. Once the limitation of liability action is filed, all pending litigation against the ship would be halted and the case would be brought into federal court, where maritime legal issues are handled. People who wish to make claims against the ship would have a set period of time to do so. As the legal action proceeds, people with claims against the ship will likely try to prove that the ship’s owner had “privity or knowledge” of the cause of the accident.

If that’s proven, a federal judge could “break” the limitation of liability, allowing claimants to win damages that exceed the value of the ship and its pending freight.

A lawyer for Grace Ocean Private Ltd. declined to comment Monday morning.