Last-minute bill will help Maryland AG’s office pursue damages in Key Bridge collapse

A bill that just barely crossed the finish line in the Maryland General Assembly will allow the Attorney General’s Office to more effectively pursue damages in the wake of the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster.

Passed shortly before the legislature adjourned Sine Die Monday night, Senate Bill 680 will permit the proportionate distribution of liability among parties believed to bear responsibility for the bridge collapse.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge’s 1,200-foot span crumpled into the Patapsco River in the early morning of March 26 after a 95,000-ton container ship called the Dali smashed into one of its support piers.

The Maryland Attorney General‘s Office said Friday that it anticipates filing claims “against multiple defendants to recover for damages to the state as a result of the Francis Scott Key Bridge incident.”

SB 680 would divide liability among multiple defendants based on how much they contributed to a harm.

Here’s an example of how the law works now: If five defendants each contributed to a harm, such as an environmental disaster, they can be sued for damages. Each of the defendants might bear a different level of responsibility for the disaster; one major defendant might have caused 50% of the harm, while smaller defendants might have only caused 5% of the harm.

But if the Attorney General’s Office settles with one of the smaller defendants, it has to reduce its claims against the other defendants by a full share, or 20%, not just the 5% of the total harm caused by that single defendant. By settling, the state is forced to give up the remaining 15% of  potential recovery. If the state settles with three small defendants, it is forced to give up three shares, or 60% of the total claim, even if the defendants only bore a total of 15% responsibility.

That also means that larger defendants who bear more responsibility can pay less than their share of damages, the office argued in a letter supporting SB 680.

The state could avoid this problem by taking all of the defendants to trial, but doing so “so bogs down the court system, imposes significant legal expenses on the state, and imposes even greater legal expenses on the small and medium-sized defendants that were not able to settle for their fair share of the damages unless the State was willing to sacrifice an unfair portion of its total recovery,” the OAG wrote.

SB 680 will change the calculus so that defendants pay according to their proportional liability, as assigned by a judge or jury. A defendant who carries 5% responsibility for a harm could settle and leave the remaining 95% of the state’s claims intact against other defendants.

The bill “provides the OAG the tools necessary to maximize our recovery against all those determined to be liable for the damages,” said Jennifer Donelan, the director of communications for the attorney general.

“The passage of the legislation, which was unanimous in both the House and the Senate, would not have been possible without the support of the presiding officers, committee chairs, and legislators committed to the full restoration and recovery from the tragedy that occurred on March 26, 2024,” she said.

The law only applies to legal action stemming from the Key Bridge collapse. An earlier version of the bill would have included a much broader swath of litigation, but lawmakers amended the bill to limit it to the bridge incident and make it emergency legislation that will take effect immediately when enacted.

The bill is awaiting a signature from Gov. Wes Moore.

The legal fallout from the collapse is expected to last for years and involve a complex web of businesses, insurers and claimants.

Just days after the crash, the owner of the Dali filed a “limitation of liability” action in federal court aimed at capping the amount of damages the company could be forced to pay at $43 million, the value of the ship and its freight.

The action means that claimants will have until Sept. 24 to file claims related to the ship in federal court. Claimants will try to “break” liability by showing that the Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., had “privity or knowledge” of the cause of the accident.

If the limitation of liability is not broken, the company will only be on the hook for damages up to $43 million, far less than the expected cost of rebuilding the Key Bridge.