BALTIMORE – With the NTSB preliminary report comes several questions about the legal fallout after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

On Wednesday, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown called on the state board of public works to approve contracting five external law firms to assist in litigation after the collapse. The firms will only be paid contingent on the state winning its case. The funds for that would come from the damages recovered.

“The firms are the right mix of maritime, insurance, conflicts litigation, and other expertise and experience we need to pursue and protect the state’s interests in this critical matter,” Brown said.

The board approved these contracts during a vote Wednesday.  The state owned and operated the Key Bridge. The attorney general’s office has not indicated when it will file a claim.

This step comes as several legal fillings have already been sent to federal district court in Baltimore. The city filed a civil claim for damages in April. The Dali owner and operator filed a limitation of liability claim, asking the court to restrict the company’s financial responsibility to the cost of the ship. Separately, the ship’s owner declared general average, asking cargo companies with products on board to chip in for the cost of “voluntary lost cargo”.

While the report provides a clear timeline of events the morning of March 26, it doesn’t answer the question of why the incident occurred.

This will be the key in, what’s shaping up to be, a lengthy legal battle. Sen. Ben Cardin spoke at a press briefing earlier this week, saying this could be a historically large insurance claim.

“Those insurance claims will help to ensure the federal taxpayer gets relief,” Cardin said.

Maritime insurance functions differently than that on land. Large vessels can take out insurance policies from independent insurance brokers, but that can be expensive. Instead, most ships work with a protection and indemnity club, which is a group of vessels that form a mutual assurance organization to provide insurance for large claims. There are 12 leading clubs in the world, and they formed an international group to pool resources for high value claims. Currently, there is $2.1 billion available to support claims in this international group.

This insurance would only be triggered if the ship cannot limit its liability to the value of the vessel, which will be one of the first claims reviewed in court. In order to have a ruling in that case, the court needs to determine why the allision happened. If the court finds that the ship’s owner knew of problems on board, liability will not be limited.

“If it turns out equipment just failed unexpectedly even though the maintenance is up to date or if some ship’s officer simply made a mistake, then that would not be attributable to the owner, and theoretically limitation would be allowed,” Allen Black, maritime attorney at Mills Black LLP., said.

The FBI opened its investigation into the Dali last month. Black says investigators could be looking at criminal charges related to misconduct or neglect of ship officers, also known as the Seafarers Manslaughter statute. Prosecutors would have to prove simple negligence, accusing a member of the crew of neglect, misconduct or inattention to duties, causing the death of the six construction workers who were on the bridge that night.  

“I assume that’s exactly what they are looking for is to see if they can find some act of negligence attributable to the crew or the ship’s owner,” Black said.

All cases related to the Key Bridge Collapse need to be filed by September 24 in district court. Then, the court will begin reviewing evidence. This will all begin as the NTSB and Coast Guard safety investigation continues.

Nicole D. Porter’s recent commentary correctly nailed why the terrible legislation on criminal “justice” recently passed in the Maryland General Assembly and fails to provide safety or justice, particularly with regard to children (“Maryland lawmakers worsened criminal justice in three ways this year,” May 10).

Gov. Wes Moore should have vetoed House Bill 814, a hastily cobbled-together bill. I’m particularly confused and saddened by the difference between Moore’s campaign rhetoric (“No child left behind!”) and his support of a bill that allows 10-to-12-year-olds to be incarcerated for minor offenses and put in jail before court, rather than giving them and their families the therapeutic and educational support that has shown to work.

Governor Moore should be ending archaic policies like automatically charging children as adults, rather than supporting legislation like H.B. 814. He can do better and we need better policies for a safer, more just Maryland that cares about all of its children.

— Dr. Anna Rubin, Columbia

The writer is a member of the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition.

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Visit WTOP’s Election 2024 page for comprehensive coverage.

A highly contested Senate primary in Maryland is pushing Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks into the spotlight. She will take on former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in November’s general election.

Alsobrooks beat U.S. Rep. David Trone with 54% of the vote across the state. She did exceptionally well in her home county, with 72% of ballots there cast for the county executive.

She also edged out Trone in highly populated counties spanning the middle of the state. Alsobrooks narrowly won part of Trone’s home base, walking away with 50% of Democrats’ votes in Montgomery County — the northern portion of the county is in District 6, which Trone represents.

She also did well in Baltimore City and Baltimore, Howard, Charles and Anne Arundel counties. She won at least 50% of the votes in each of those counties, with a high of 64% in Charles County.

More Maryland Election News

Ahead of primary day, some polls suggested the Democratic primary would be a close call, with Alsobrooks expected to take a slim lead over Trone in one poll. Alsobrooks celebrated her surprisingly decisive win in her victory speech on Tuesday.

“For anyone, hear me, who has ever felt counted out, overlooked and underestimated, I hope you understand and share this moment. And know that I hope you know that the impossible is still possible,” she said.

Meanwhile, Trone carried most of his district, winning 66% of Democratic voters in Frederick County and doing well in Western Maryland.

He also picked up nearly every county on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, winning a simple majority of votes in Cecil, Caroline, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Dorchester, Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties.

On the GOP side, former governor Larry Hogan won every county in the state, except for slim losses in Dorchester, Garrett, Wicomico and Somerset counties. Hogan ended up winning around 62% of GOP primary voters. Robin Ficker came in second with about 30% of the vote.

“I have never been more concerned about the direction of our nation,” Hogan said during his victory speech. “Politicians on both sides seem to be more interested in attacking each other than in actually getting anything done for the people they represent.”

On X, Hogan also congratulated Alsobrooks for her nomination, saying that he values their “respectful relationship” and that he looks forward to debating her on “who can actually help fix the mess in Washington.” Hogan has campaigned on how he would bring “independent leadership” to Congress, helping politicians from either side of the aisle to work together.

Meanwhile, Alsobrooks targeted Hogan’s connections to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, focusing on the issue of abortion rights during her victory speech.

“You should recall as well that in one of his last acts as governor, he vetoed legislation to expand abortion care access,” Alsobrooks said. “If he’s elected, he will give Republicans the majority that they need to pass a national abortion ban. And it should also be clear that he will not support a national law to protect abortion rights, he will not oppose anti-choice judges, including nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, even in the wake of the reversal of Roe vs. Wade.”

When asked to clarify his position on abortion a week before the primary, Hogan told WTOP his “position is to not take action to take away women’s rights to reproductive health.”

Also on the ballot — presidential primaries

On the presidential side, unsurprisingly, Biden won the Democratic primary with 86% of votes and former President Donald Trump won 80% of Republican’s votes.

However, with 67% of ballots tallied, 10% of Democrats voted uncommitted amid a growing movement opposing Biden sending aid to Israel during the Israel-Hamas war.

The protest-vote movement has spread to several states and raised more questions about whether a small but significant number of Democrats angry at Biden might abandon him in November.

Unlike most delegates awarded to candidates in primaries and caucuses, “uncommitted” delegates are not obligated to vote for any particular candidate at the Democratic National Convention this summer in Chicago. The individuals selected to fill delegate slots will be selected at party meetings later this spring, which means an “uncommitted” delegate slot may be filled by a Biden supporter who will ultimately cast a vote for him at the convention.

WTOP’s John Domen and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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