Attorneys for the families of two Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse victims and a survivor say workers received “no warning” before the container ship Dali struck the bridge.
The attorneys are representing families of victimAlejandro Hernandez Fuentes and José Mynor López as well as survivor Julio Adrian Cervantes Suarez. Hernandez Fuentes and López are two of the six construction workers who died after the Dali lost power and collided with the bridge just before 1:30 a.m. March 26, sending the crew into the freezing Patapsco River.
The workers were sitting in their vehicles during a break from repairing potholes and had “zero warning” that the Dali was headed for the bridge, attorney L. Chris Stewart said at a Monday news conference at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore.
Stewart was joined by Justin Miller, also of Atlanta-based Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys, and Daniel Rose and Kevin Mahoney of Kreindler & Kreindler in New York in representing the victims.
Julio Cervantes, the only member of the Brawner Builders’ crew who survived, escaped because he was able to roll down his work vehicle’s manual window, Stewart said.Cervantes, who cannot swim, wasinjured and clung to debris until he was rescued. Stewart said Cervantes lost family members in the bridge collapse and eventually will share the “epic tale” of his survival.
Maryland Transportation Authority Police were able to halt traffic onto the bridge before the collision, an action that officials said likely saved lives.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said that how first responders attempted to warn workers would be part of the National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the collapse. Moore said that one survivor said he was warned “audibly” to get off the bridge.
A state inspector working for contractor Eborn Enterprises also was able to escape the bridge.
The two firms representing the victims say they are conducting their own investigation into the collapse and are calling “for a thorough investigation into the multiple alleged prior issues with the Dali” before its collision with the Key Bridge, according to the release. The attorneys praised the FBI for launching a criminal investigation into the collapse but said they had not been in contact with the agency.
Singapore-based companies Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the ship’s owner, and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., which manages the Dali, filed a claim together April 1 in Baltimore’s U.S. District Court asking a judge to clear them from liability or limit damages to the value of the ship plus the revenue it stood to make from its cargo, or about $43.7 million.
The attorneys representing the victims say they intend to fight that request.
They called on Congress to repeal the 173-year-old federal law under which the companies filed their claim, which was used to shield the Titanic’s owner.
“The Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 is unfair, it’s unjust, it serves no purpose,” Mahoney said. “It rubs salt in the wounds of these family members who now must enter this claims process while they’re still mourning their loved ones.”
The first legal step for the families is to file a claim within the limitation action, which is pending in Maryland’s federal court, before Sept. 24. After that, the process of gathering evidence for civil litigation could be complicated by the transportation safety board’s investigation, Mahoney said.
Baltimore attorney Michael Belsky, who is representing the estate of one of the workers killed in a deadly Interstate 695 crash last year, said maritime law has some benefits for victims along with specific hurdles, like a faster timeline to file claims.
“While cases like this have obstacles that plaintiffs need to overcome, there may also be profound benefits to them,” Belsky said. “Specifically, there’s a strong likelihood that there will not be any limitation on the amount of compensation they can receive, as opposed to caps that exist in other Maryland cases.”
Asked whether the families were considering claims against entities besides the ship’s owner, including the workers’ employer Brawner Builders, the attorneys said they were exploring all possible parties involved in the collapse.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said Monday that the City of Baltimore has hired lawyers to bring legal action against the vessel’s operators.
Recovery teams retrieved the bodies of Hernandez and another man March 27 from a pickup truck in the Patapsco. Last week, Hernandez’s family and friends held a visitation for him at a Dundalk church.Another body was recovered Sunday but has not been identified as Lopez or one of the two other workers — Carlos Hernandez and Miguel Luna.
“What does justice look like? We don’t know the answer because what is the value of the six lives that have been destroyed?” Stewart said.
The law firms said in the news release that neither the families of the two victims they represent nor the survivor “are in a place physically, mentally or emotionally to speak publicly about what they have experienced.” Attorneys at the news conference said families were still mourning but that they expected Cervantes to share his harrowing experience in the future.
