By David Pendered
May 11 – Baltimore or London? The choice is bogging down the lawsuit over liability of the ship that knocked down a bridge near Baltimore.
The Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship, crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024. The allision with the bridge that was part of the bypass around Baltimore occurred after the ship lost propulsion and the vessel lost the ability to steer.
The ship’s owner and operator are seeking exoneration from liability for a crash that caused the death of six men and incurred a bridge replacement cost estimated at nearly $2 billion. Fifty-six claimants are suing to hold the owner and operator responsible.
Negotiations are underway with six of the ship’s shoreside personnel whom claimants think have the most knowledge of the day-to-day operations of the Dali. All six claim to reside in Singapore or India.
About 18 lawyers for U.S. claimants against the ship’s owner and operator prefer to depose the men in Baltimore. The cost of commute would be lower for the lawyers. A federal magistrate judge ruled in their favor.
Not so fast, the six men contended. They prefer London, midway between their homes and Baltimore. Some say they fear arrest and incarceration in connection with a reported criminal investigation into the crash if they step on U.S. soil, according to court filings.
In response to an appeal, the presiding judge ruled April 15 that the magistrate judge must reconsider his decision. The determination of the host city for the depositions now is to be made on a case-by-case basis and it could be London, or Baltimore, or some other city that’s mutually agreeable.
U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar observed that the clock is ticking on the case. If the two sides can’t agree on a venue, the claimants likely would seek to have the men compelled to appear in Baltimore pursuant to the Hague Convention of 1970, on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters. That process could take up to a year, Bredar wrote.
The court already has sought Denmark’s help in gaining access to the ship’s tracking information, court filings show.
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