On
March
26,
a
containership
named
for
Spanish
painter
Salvador
Dalí
lost
power
after
leaving
the
Port
of
Baltimore
and
collided
with
the
Francis
Scott
Key
Bridge.
The
resulting
collapse shut
down
traffic
to
and
from
the
Port
for
months
and
killed
six
maintenance
workers
who
were
on
the
structure
at
the
time
of
the
collision.
Five
days
after
the
accident,
the
Singaporean
owners
of
the
Dalí
filed
a
Petition
for
Exoneration
from
or
Limitation
of
Liability
in
the
District
Court
of
Maryland.
Grace
Ocean
Private
Limited,
which
owns
the
ship,
and
Synergy
Marine
PTE
Ltd,
which
managed
it,
disclaim
all
liability.
But
if
Judge
James
Bredar
somehow
manages
to
find
them
culpable,
they
seek
to
cabin
their
losses
at
$44
million
dollars:
In
the
alternative,
if
the
Court
determines
that
Owner
and/or
Synergy
is
liable,
that
such
liability
be
limited
to
the
value
of
the
Vessel
and
its
pending
freight
in
connection
with
the
voyage,
and
that
Petitioner(s)
be
discharged
therefrom
upon
the
surrender
of
such
interest,
and
that
the
money
surrendered,
paid,
or
secured
to
be
paid
be
divided
pro-rata
among
the
claimants
that
are
successful
in
proving
their
claims,
reserving
to
all
parties
any
priorities
to
which
they
may
be
legally
entitled,
and
that
a
decree
may
be
entered
discharging
Petitioner(s)
from
all
further
liability;
The
City
of
Baltimore
and
the
other
parties
harmed
by
the
bridge
collapse
and
the
massive
economic
fallout
caused
by
shutting
down
the
port
for
weeks
have
other
ideas.
They
want
all
the
money
the
Dalí’s
owners
have
now
or
will
have
for
the
rest
of
their
lives.
And
so
does
the
US
government,
which
yesterday
filed
a
$100
million
counterclaim
alleging
that
the
Dalí
was
literally
shaking
itself
into
pieces
when
it
attempted
to
navigate
to
open
waters
via
the
Patapsco
River.
The
feds
claim
that
the
constant
vibrations
were
known
to
its
operators,
that
the
multiple
technical
failures
that
let
to
it
hitting
the
bridge
were
totally
predictable,
and
that
the
disaster
was
compounded
by
the
Dalí
crew’s
numerous
errors.
The
federal
cleanup
effort
involved
the
Navy,
the
Coast
Guard,
the
Army
Corps
of
Engineers,
and
the
National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Administration.
The
Labor
Department
also
got
involved
through
federal
grants
to
displaced
workers.
“The
United
States
incurred
losses
and
damages
as
a
result
of
Petitioners’
negligence
in
the
total
amount
of
approximately
$103,078,056,”
the
Justice
Department
wrote,
demanding
reimbursement
for
negligence
under
the
General
Maritime
Law,
as
well
as
violations
of
the
Rivers
and
Harbors
Act,
and
the
Oil
Pollution
Act.
“Out
of
negligence,
mismanagement,
and,
at
times,
a
desire
to
cut
costs,
they
configured
the
ship’s
electrical
and
mechanical
systems
in
a
way
that
prevented
those
systems
from
being
able
to
quickly
restore
propulsion
and
steering
after
a
power
outage,”
Principal
Deputy
Associate
Attorney
General
Benjamin
Mizer
said
at
a
press
conference
in
DC
announcing
the
filing.
“As
a
result,
when
the
DALI
lost
power,
a
cascading
set
of
failures
led
to
disaster.”
The
feds
want
punitive
damages,
too.
And
that
$103
million
doesn’t
even
include
the
damage
to
the
bridge
itself,
which
is
owned
and
operated
by
the
State
of
Maryland.
Other
claimants
have
until
Tuesday
to
file
their
own
accounting
with
the
court.
Judge
Bredar
will
have
his
work
cut
out
for
him.
In
the
Matter
of
the
Petition
of
Grace
Ocean
Private
Limited
for
Exoneration
from
or
Limitation
of
Liability
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.