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The US Department of Justice has reached a settlement with the cargo ship owners that crashed into and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, according to a news release Thursday.
Singapore-based companies Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited agreed to pay $101.98 million to settle the civil claim brought by the US government to recover it. costs of the bridge collapse.
The settlement resolves the US claim for $103 million in civil damages under the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Oil Pollution Act and general maritime law, according to the statement. The money will go to the US Treasury and the budgets of federal agencies directly affected by the collapse or involved in the response.
“Nearly seven months after one of the worst transportation disasters in recent memory, which claimed six lives and caused untold damage, we have reached an important milestone with today’s settlement,” said Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer in the statement.
The DOJ filed the civil suit in the US District Court for the District of Maryland on September 18, seeking $100 million in damages. The action arose in part from the companies’ attempt to limit their liability to $43.7 million, which is the cost of the ship.
Although Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine accepted the settlement, the companies deny responsibility for the event, said Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for MTI Network, a London-based public relations firm that represents the companies.
“The settlement strictly covers costs related to channel cleanup, for which we would have been responsible in any event, and is not indicative of any liability, which we expressly disclaim for the incident that led to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge ,” said a statement Wilson shared with Construction Dive.
The cargo ship Dali left the port of Baltimore on March 26 bound for Sri Lanka. The boat repeatedly lost power before striking one of the bridge’s piers, sending most of the span into the water below, the lawsuit said.
The DOJ’s lawsuit claimed that Dalí’s owners were reckless and negligent and that the collapse was preventable. Six construction workers who were doing repair work in the potholes of the bridge he died when the pole fell into the water.
Additionally, debris on the Patapsco River blocked a critical shipping route for months, and the loss of the bridge severed a stretch of vital transit infrastructure for the region.
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Hunt Valley, Maryland-based Brawner Builders, the employer of the workers who died, also filed a lawsuit against Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine Group, as well as the families of three of the workers.
The agreement with the US does not include any damages for the reconstruction of the key bridge. So has the state of Maryland, which built, owns, maintains and operates the bridge sued the owner and operator of the Dalí.
The damages paid through the DOJ settlement are not punitive, and the federal government’s claim differs from other claims in terms of liability, according to the company’s statement.
“Grace Ocean and Synergy are prepared to vigorously defend themselves in the limitation of liability proceedings pending in Federal Court in Baltimore and to establish that they were not responsible for the incident,” the statement said.
President Joe Biden has promised that the federal government would pay to rebuild the stretch, so if Maryland also recovers money through a lawsuit or settlement, the funds would be used to pay the federal government.
