Month: September 2024

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Thank you, United States Attorney Barron. I am Chetan Patil, the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division’s Torts Branch. This morning, attorneys within the Civil Division filed a claim against Grace Ocean and Synergy, the owner and operator of the Motor Vessel DALI, to recover more than $100 million in federal taxpayer funds that were spent in responding to the tragic destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The suit also seeks punitive damages against these entities, who reaped the profits of conducting business in American ports but did so by engaging in reckless and grossly negligent conduct that led to this catastrophe.

Our investigation remains ongoing. Nevertheless, from what we have learned already, it is clear that this accident was completely avoidable. As we outline in our claim, the electrical and mechanical systems on the DALI were improperly configured and maintained in violation of safety regulations. These configurations caused the ship to lose power, which led to subsequent equipment failures, culminating in the DALI striking one of the piers of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and causing the bridge to collapse into the Fort McHenry Channel.

We believe that the ship initially lost power when the circuit breakers tripped at an electrical transformer in the engine room due to excessive vibration problems with the transformer and its circuitry. The evidence shows that excessive vibration was a long-standing problem on the ship, which Grace Ocean and Synergy sought to remedy with makeshift, after-market fixes that fell well short of appropriate standards. 

When this transformer failed, the power should have automatically shifted to another transformer almost immediately. But, per longstanding practice, this automation had been recklessly disabled, which led to excessive delay in regaining power. Then the ship’s emergency generator also failed. Even when the crew finally did manage to regain power, the DALI lost power a second time, likely because the vessel had been using an inadequate, temporary fuel pump that could not restart after a blackout. This was another legal safety requirement that the DALI failed to follow, in order to cut costs and save time.  

Because power could not be restored, there was no way to steer the ship. And problems with the DALI’s anchor and bow thruster thwarted even last-ditch emergency efforts to avert the disaster. In sum, this accident happened because of the careless and grossly negligent decisions made by Grace Ocean and Synergy, who recklessly chose to send an unseaworthy vessel to navigate a critical waterway and ignored the risks to American lives and the nation’s infrastructure. 

The United States’ claim seeks to hold Grace Ocean and Synergy responsible for the considerable costs they imposed on the federal government in responding to the disaster. Those costs include work relating to the removal of the DALI and the remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Fort McHenry channel, in order to restore full access to the Port of Baltimore. In addition, we seek to recover the costs incurred to abate the substantial risk of oil pollution that could have resulted from this accident, as well as costs incurred by several federal agencies as a direct result of Grace Ocean and Synergy’s misconduct. We seek punitive damages here to deter Grace Ocean and Synergy — and other vessel owners and operators — from prioritizing profits over safety and thereby jeopardizing the waterways and well-being of Americans. And we will vigorously contest Grace Ocean and Synergy’s efforts to limit their liability to the woefully inadequate amount of $44 million, which finds no legal support under these circumstances.

While the United States remains committed to the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, it is not seeking damages for those costs at this time. Rather, because the State of Maryland built, owned, maintained and operated the bridge, the State, not the United States, may seek recovery for the costs of rebuilding the bridge. Funds the State may recover in the litigation will be used to repay federal money spent to reconstruct the bridge and highway.

Finally, I want to thank the attorneys of the Aviation, Space & Admiralty Litigation Section of the Civil Division for their diligence and hard work since the day this accident occurred. Their efforts and professionalism are in the finest traditions of the department.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Good morning. My name is Benjamin Mizer, and I am the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department. I am joined today by Chetan Patil, who is the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division’s Torts Branch. I am also joined by U.S. Attorney Erek Barron for the District of Maryland and representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Navy, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Today, the United States filed a civil claim in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland against the owner and operator of the Motor Vessel DALI, the container vessel that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, resulting in six needless and heartbreaking deaths. The action seeks recovery of more than $100 million in damages and costs incurred by the United States in responding to the fatal disaster and reopening access to the Port of Baltimore.

In the early morning hours of March 26, the DALI left the Port of Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka. While navigating through the Fort McHenry Channel, the vessel lost power, regained power, and then lost power again before crashing into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The whole country watched the horrifying video footage showing the bridge collapse and plunge into the water below. 

Six construction workers tragically lost their lives when the bridge collapsed. Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones for this senseless and wholly preventable loss.

In addition to the tragic loss of life, the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge severely disrupted the economy of Baltimore and affected the entire nation. Not only did the bridge’s collapse sever a critical link in our highway infrastructure, but it also blocked the Fort McHenry Channel and brought to a standstill all maritime traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore — one of the largest shipping hubs in the nation.

Just days after the disaster, President Biden pledged that the federal government would do whatever it took to get the Port of Baltimore up and running as soon as possible. What happened next was a heroic feat of governmental cooperation in the public interest. The United States led response efforts among more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies. The initial response focused on search and rescue efforts for those workers who were missing. But even as those efforts were ongoing, planning and operations commenced to remove more than 50,000 tons of steel, concrete, and asphalt from the channel and from the DALI itself. While these efforts were underway, temporary channels were also cleared to start relieving the bottleneck at the Port of Baltimore and mitigating some of the economic devastation caused by the DALI. The work was complex, costly, time-consuming — and at times dangerous. Thanks to these herculean efforts, on June 10, the United States reopened the Fort McHenry Channel, allowing commercial navigation once again to flow freely into and out of the Port of Baltimore.

I stand in awe of the remarkable work done by the U.S. Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving, and their contractors, as well as our State and local partners and countless others who supported those agencies.

As we outline in our claim, this catastrophe was entirely avoidable. We allege that the DALI’s owner and operator recklessly cut corners in ways that risked lives and the economic well-being of the nation. In particular, our claim alleges that the owner and operator of the DALI were well aware of vibration issues on the vessel that could cause a power outage. But instead of taking necessary precautions, they did the opposite. Out of negligence, mismanagement, and, at times, a desire to cut costs, they configured the ship’s electrical and mechanical systems in a way that prevented those systems from being able to quickly restore propulsion and steering after a power outage. As a result, when the DALI lost power, a cascading set of failures led to disaster.

The United States spent more $100 million responding to this disaster, to clear the channel, and to reopen the Port of Baltimore. Those costs should be borne by the ship’s owner and operator, not the American taxpayer. But that is not all. To try to keep this type of conduct from ever happening again, we are also seeking punitive damages. The Justice Department is committed to holding the DALI’s owner and operator responsible for the harm they caused and to deter them and others from taking reckless risks with American lives and infrastructure.

In bringing this civil action, I greatly appreciate the partnership we have with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, our cooperation with the State of Maryland, and the critical assistance we have received from many departments and agencies of the federal government. I am particularly proud of the work done by the Civil Division in putting together this comprehensive civil action, work that began within hours of when this tragedy occurred.

With that, I will turn it over to U.S. Attorney Barron.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department convened on Monday its quarterly interagency meeting with LGBTQI+ community stakeholders. Members of the Office of the Attorney General and the LGBTQI+ Working Group of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division outlined relevant enforcement efforts across the department and highlighted actions to address discrimination in education and employment and combat hate crimes. Assistant Secretary of Education Catherine Lhamon of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights also addressed the attendees and highlighted efforts to ensure safe learning environments at schools, colleges and universities.

Justice Department leadership, including representatives from the Civil Rights Division, FBI, Community Relations Service, Office of Justice Programs, Office on Violence Against Women, Office of Victims of Crimes and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, heard from participating organizations about discrimination faced by LGBTQI+ students, parents and teachers; barriers to access to gender-affirming medical care for LGBTQI+ people; health data privacy concerns; the need to increase intersex awareness; and hate crimes. Representatives from other government agencies, including the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Labor and State, as well as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, National Endowment of the Arts and AmeriCorps, were also in attendance.

Combating hate crimes and addressing claims of discrimination are among the division’s top priorities. Monday’s meeting represents the division’s ongoing efforts to engage with LGBTQI+ organizations and stakeholders on issues affecting LGBTQI+ communities.

The department has continued to prosecute hate crimes, including obtaining several life sentences for the perpetrator of the mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQI+ establishment in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The department also filed a statement of interest in a case challenging a policy in Florida schools prohibiting teachers from using personal titles and pronouns inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth and a statement of interest in a case challenging a Georgia school district’s alleged retaliation against a teacher for her support of LGBTQI+ students and her opposition to the hostile environment they were allegedly subject to as a result of bullying and harassment.

These and other efforts by the Civil Rights Division can be found on its website at its LGBTQI+ Working Group page.