Judge dismisses Dali owner's lawsuit against shipbuilder over Key Bridge collapse
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Dali's owner and operator, which alleged that the ship's builder, Hyundai Heavy Industries, designed a dangerous ship that crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024, killing six construction workers.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by Grace Ocean Private Limited, the Dali's owner, and Synergy Marine Private Limited, its manager, claimed the ship had a simple but dangerous defect that caused the electrical system to lose power.
The lawsuit alleged that a label positioned too close to the end of a critical cable detached, causing a circuit breaker to open. Without electrical power, the ship lost steering capability and struck the bridge.
"Hyundai Heavy Industries defectively designed the switchboard," the lawsuit stated.
The Dali experienced four blackouts in less than 12 hours before colliding with the Key Bridge on March 26, 2024, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Dali's owners, operators plead not guilty to criminal charges
Last week, attorneys representing the owners and operators of the Dali pleaded not guilty to all counts in a criminal case brought by federal prosecutors against the companies.
Last May, federal prosecutors charged both companies, and a 47-year-old man who was the Dali's superintendent, with conspiracy, obstruction, and making false statements to investigators.
In June, federal prosecutors filed additional criminal charges in the deadly 2024 Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. The chief engineer of the Dali was charged with violations of the Port and Waterways Safety Act. Karthikeyan Deenadayalan is accused of knowingly and willfully failing to notify the U.S. Coast Guard about hazardous conditions on the ship
The federal indictment charged Synergy Marine's with conspiracy to defraud the United States, failing to inform the U.S. Coast Guard of a known hazardous condition, misconduct or neglect by ship officers causing death, false statements and obstructing an agency proceeding.
Federal prosecutors accuse the owners and operators of the ship of improperly using a "flushing pump" to supply diesel to two of the Dali's generators, rather than normal fuel supply pumps that have redundancies and can automatically restart. That pump's failure has been blamed for the second of two power outages in the moments leading up to the collision.
"If the Dali had been using the proper fuel supply pumps, then the vessel would have regained power in time to safely navigate under the Key Bridge," said Kelly Hayes, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland.
Key Bridge construction progress
Last month, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore assured that the Key Bridge reconstruction will be completed safely, on time and on budget.
The governor toured the Key Bridge construction zone with members of Congress, encouraged by the progress.
The cost of the rebuild project remains between $4.3 billion and $5.2 billion. The bridge is expected to be finished in 2030, which is two years later than initially anticipated.
The state cut ties with its previous contractor, Kiewit Corporation after it projected a nearly $9 billion price tag.
"It is going to have additional safety precautions and mechanisms that were not there when the original bridge was built. It will have to be larger because it has to accommodate larger ships," Moore said. "I know when people say, well, that's ambitious to say you're going to build a bridge that's safer and bigger and build it faster than what was done before, the answer is it is ambitious."
