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Baltimore has hired a heavy-hitting lawyer with experience in maritime disasters and structural collapses to represent the city in expected litigation over the toppling of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The lawyer, Jeffrey P. Goodman, was co-lead counsel for victims of the Surfside condominium collapse in Florida that killed 98 people in 2021, according to his firm bio. He is also working with the victims of the Conception boat fire, which killed 34 people in 2019.
Goodman helped win a $1.2 billion settlement in the Surfside collapse and secured a $150 million settlement for the victims of a Missouri duck boat sinking in 2018. The settlements are the largest ever reported in the U.S. for construction accidents and maritime disasters, respectively, according to his bio.
The city on Monday announced that it has hired Goodman’s firm, Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky P.C., and DiCello Levitt LLP, a national complex issues and trial firm.
RELATED: Owner of ship that destroyed Baltimore’s Key Bridge asks to cap liability at $43M
The Key Bridge collapsed early on the morning of March 26 after a 95,000-ton cargo ship called the Dali lost power and slammed into one of the bridge’s support piers. The bridge’s 1,200-foot span toppled into the Patapsco River below, killing six members of a construction crew that was working on the bridge at the time.
Legal action stemming from the collapse began almost immediately: the owner and manager of the Dali filed a “limitation of liability” action in federal court six days after the disaster aimed at capping the amount of damages the companies can be forced to pay at about $43 million.
The legal wrangling could last for years. Just days after the bridge collapse, the owner and manager of the Dali filed a “limitation of liability” action in federal court aimed at capping the amount of damages the companies could be forced to pay at about $43 million.
Parties with claims against the Dali will have until Sept. 24 to file notice in federal court, though there is expected to be a lengthy court fight over whether the owner can successfully cap liability. If the owner had “privity or knowledge” of the issue that caused the crash, or if the ship wasn’t seaworthy before it left port, the limitation of liability action could fail, allowing claimants to pursue bigger monetary awards.
Monday’s announcement does not mean the city of Baltimore has filed a lawsuit. It is primarily a sign that the city is working to preserve its rights and be ready for upcoming legal action.
Baltimore’s Key Bridge destroyed: Everything you need to know
“It is time to hold the M/V Dali’s owner, charterer, manager/operator, manufacturer, and others accountable for the city’s substantial and ongoing economic losses arising from this tragedy, as well as for the unimaginable distress they have caused to the city’s residents, businesses, workers, and their families,” City Solicitor Ebony M. Thompson said in a news release.
DiCello Levitt co-founder Adam Levitt said in the news release that the firm will bring “significant economic and environmental loss claims on behalf of the city of Baltimore and its residents.”
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Sara Gross, the Baltimore Law Department’s chief of affirmative litigation, will also represent the city.
Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the owner of the Dali, and Synergy Marine Pte. Ltd., the vessel’s manager, declined to comment in an emailed statement.
“Due to the magnitude of the incident, there are various government agencies conducting investigations, in which we are fully participating,” said a spokesperson for the companies, Darrell Wilson. “Out of respect for these investigations and any future legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office has also issued a request for proposals for assistant counsel to participate in Key Bridge litigation.
The FBI is also conducting a criminal investigation into the crash and boarded the Dali Monday morning. The ship reportedly experienced electrical issues before it left port but took off anyway, a source told the Associated Press.
That could have major implications for the limitation of liability action, maritime lawyers said. It is unlawful to begin a voyage in a vessel that is unseaworthy, said Todd Lochner, an admiralty lawyer based in Annapolis.
A vessel is considered seaworthy if it is “reasonably fit for the intended voyage,” Lochner said, a broad term that can mean different things for different voyages. If evidence surfaces showing that the Dali’s owner had knowledge of dangerous circ*mstances that led to the crash, that could help claimants against the ship “break liability” and access more substantial damages.
Those damages might come from the reinsurance market. Reinsurance is insurance for insurance companies that offers protection in the event of a major disaster.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
