The latest lawsuit against the owner of the Dali cargo ship is from the United States Department of Justice, which filed a civil claim in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Wednesday.
In it, the federal government seeks to recover more than $100 million in costs arising from recovery efforts in the weeks and months after the Dali knocked over the Francis Scott Key Bridge, killing six construction workers, on March 26. The suit does not seek to recover costs from the rebuilding of the bridge, which is expected to open in 2028, since the state of Maryland owns the bridge. The state is expected to later file its own suit.
“With this civil claim, the Justice Department is working to ensure that the costs of clearing the channel and reopening the Port of Baltimore are borne by the companies that caused the crash, not by the American taxpayer,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The Department of Justice called the collapse “entirely avoidable” in its claim and said the ship’s owner and manager — the Singaporean companies Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Pte. Ltd. — “sent an ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel to navigate the UnitedStates’ waterways.”
“They did so to reap the benefit of conducting business in American ports,” the claim continued. “Yet they cut corners in ways that risked lives and infrastructure. Those responsible for the vessel must be held fully accountable for the catastrophic harm they caused, and punitive damages should be imposed to deter such misconduct.”
This story will be updated.