Justice Dept. Sues Ship’s Owners For Baltimore Bridge Collapse

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit last week seeking $100 million against a shipping company whose container ship destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge March 26 and killed six highway maintenance workers.

The lawsuit argues the ship, the Dali, was not seaworthy before it lost electrical and guidance power.

The ensuing collision with a bridge pier brought down the center section of the bridge. It also temporarily shut down ship traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore and vehicle traffic along the section of the I-695 Interstate highway through the Baltimore area.

The Maryland Department of Transportation plans to have the bridge rebuilt by the fall of 2028. The agency estimates the rebuilding costs at $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.

The Dali is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and managed by Synergy Marine Group. The 947-foot-long container ship was built in 2015. It was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka.

Days after the bridge fell into the Patapsco River, the companies’ attorneys filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Baltimore that would limit their liability to about $44 million. The petition still is pending.

Their petition relies on the U.S. Limitation of Liability Act of maritime and admiralty law. It says a vessel owner is entitled to limit its liability after a maritime incident to the value of the vessel and its freight, except when the loss occurred due to its “privity or knowledge.”?

Privity or knowledge for a shipowner means the owner's personal participation or negligence that caused or contributed to a loss or injury.

Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Group argue that they followed standard industry procedures for ship maintenance, which should allow them to cap their liability under the Limitation of Liability Act.

The organizations and individuals suing the Dali’s owners and management company cite National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports that appear to describe a pattern of negligence.

It says the Dali lost electrical power about 10 hours before leaving Baltimore Harbor followed by two electrical blackouts before crashing into the bridge. Rather than navigating between the Key Bridge’s piers, the power failure made the ship drift on a collision course.

The NTSB also reported that a loose cable on the Dali appears to have become disconnected and triggered an electrical blackout.

“This tragedy was entirely avoidable,” if the owners had not put an “ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel,” says the Justice Department lawsuit.

The crew knew the ship had experienced “excessive vibrations,” which the lawsuit says are a “well-known cause of transformer and electrical failure.” Rather than trying to resolve core electrical problems, crew members “jury-rigged” the ship, the complaint alleges.

NTSB investigators found loose nuts and bolts along with broken electrical cable ties in the engine room, the Justice Department says.

The ship’s engineers momentarily restored power before the collision but it failed a second time because of a separate problem with the ship’s fuel pumps that resulted from skimping on maintenance to save money, the Justice Department alleges.?

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.

TikTok Attorney Argues Against Law that Requires Chinese Divestiture

TikTok argued last week in federal court in Washington, D.C., that a law requiring it to divest from its Chinese parent company is unconstitutional.

Congress approved a law in April that says TikTok must divest from Chinese government-controlled ByteDance or be banned, which would be the equivalent of a forced sale.

The short-form video hosting service claims about 170 million U.S. users.

The Justice Department argues that TikTok could be used to spread Chinese propaganda, potentially interfering with U.S. elections. Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both use TikTok to appeal to young voters.

Some lawmakers accused TikTok during a congressional hearing of sharing personal data of Americans with Beijing-based ByteDance, which then transfers it to the Chinese military.

TikTok denies it is influenced by the Chinese government. It also says it is merely operating within its First Amendment free speech rights.

President Joe Biden signed the law in April that gave TikTok nine months to divest the app or be blocked from the United States. It would be allowed to sell its assets only to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok seeks an injunction against enforcement of the law through the lawsuit it filed in May.

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide," TikTok’s lawsuit says.

TikTok attorney Andrew Pincus denied during the hearing in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the company concealed any intent to spy on Americans.

“TikTok Inc. is a U.S. entity that engages in First Amendment free speech,” he told the three-judge panel.

He added that “the record is simply not that clear” of Chinese manipulation of TikTok or its data.

He warned against any ban of the social media giant that would be enforced by the federal law.

“Its effect would be staggering,” Pincus said.

Justice Department attorney Daniel Tenney said TikTok gathers enormous amounts of data on Americans using a computer program written by Chinese engineers with about two billion lines of code.

The data is supposed to guide TikTok users to their preferred videos.

“They want to keep people’s eyeballs on those screens,” Tenney said.

He added, “The problem is that that same data is extremely useful to a foreign adversary trying to compromise the security of the United States.”

He disagreed that First Amendment free speech was the central issue.

“That has nothing to do with protected speech by American citizens,” Tenney said.

Judge Neomi Rao suggested that the federal law potentially banning TikTok was “aimed at foreign ownership of a corporation” and potential “covert influence” rather than free speech.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.

EPA Argues in Supreme Court to Keep Methane Emission Rule

The Environmental Protection Agency and environmentalists are urging the Supreme Court to allow a new regulation tightening methane emissions to go forward despite challenges from 24 states and the oil and gas industry.

The opponents say the EPA has set an unrealistic timetable for compliance. They also say the rule’s standards violate power sharing between states and the federal government required by the Clean Air Act.

The EPA established the methane standards in December 2023. They included first time requirements for existing emissions sources.

The rules would authorize the EPA to identify "super-emitters" for prompt mitigation. They also set tougher requirements for methane flares.

The state opponents – led by Oklahoma – objected to an EPA schedule that required them to submit compliance plans within two years. They said the new rules would cover "hundreds of thousands" of oil and gas facilities, many of which had never been regulated previously.

The EPA disagreed in arguments before the Supreme Court last week that it violated any state and federal power sharing under the Clean Air Act.

The agency said in a brief, "To the contrary, in promulgating the rule, EPA repeatedly expressed its understanding and intent that its review of state methane-emission plans would be conducted under the generally applicable statutory and regulatory provisions that govern the state-plan-submission process."

The EPA won support from the Environmental Defense Fund and other green groups.

"The Clean Air Act mandates the control of dangerous pollution, and recently Congress has twice — in no uncertain terms — specifically directed EPA to limit oil and gas sector methane pollution under Section 111," they wrote in a Supreme Court brief. "The rule is founded upon a large and robust technical record compiled over years, and it reflects conventional, technology-based performance and work practice standards that will reduce pollution directly from affected oil and gas sources."

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the methane regulation should not be paused, which prompted the appeal by the states and industry groups led by Continental Resources Inc.

The consolidated cases are Oklahoma et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency et al. and Continental Resources Inc. et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency et al. in the Supreme Court of the United States.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.

D.C. Council Hires Latham & Watkins to Investigate Council Member White

The law firm of Latham & Watkins is investigating District of Columbia Council member Trayon White as he faces federal criminal charges of taking bribes from a city contractor.

The investigation is supposed to help local lawmakers decide whether to oust White (D-Ward 8) from the D.C. Council.

They voted last week to pay Latham & Watkins a reported $400,000 for the investigation. The firm’s report is due by Dec. 16.

"We owe it to the residents of the District of Columbia to conduct an independent investigation of integrity," said council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At Large).

White was arrested by the FBI Aug. 18 at his home after allegedly accepting $156,000 in bribes to help direct a city contract to a firm that is supposed to help defuse potentially violent confrontations among young people. He pleaded not guilty and is out on bond while he awaits trial.

White oversaw the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, which could have awarded the violence intervention contract under its Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

Last week, the D.C. Council voted to disband the youth affairs committee that White chaired.

“The allegations laid out against council member Trayon White are serious and not only indicate potential violations of law, but also potential violations of the council’s code of conduct, policies or rules,” said McDuffie, who is chairing the ad hoc committee investigating White.

The investigation also is looking at White’s residency. He represents the relatively low-income Ward 8 but was arrested at his luxury Navy Yard apartment in Ward 6.

After Latham & Watkins delivers its report, White will have 30 days to respond.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.

Attorney General Demands More Security at D.C. Hotel Plagued by Violence, Drugs

The District of Columbia’s attorney general is exerting oversight authority against a Ward 5 hotel that has been the site of recent violent incidents and illegal drug crimes.

Ivy City Hotel is required to improve security under a settlement agreement with the attorney general’s office.

From February 2023 to February 2024, Ivy City Hotel was the site of two homicides, two armed robberies and three non-homicide deaths that appeared to be drug-related. In addition, police recovered a ghost gun, a high-capacity magazine, cocaine, fentanyl, LSD, amphetamines, and mushrooms at the hotel.

The attorney general’s office began investigating Ivy City Hotel after a referral by the Metropolitan Police Department.

Afterward, the D.C. attorneys filed a lawsuit against the hotel under D.C.’s Nuisance Abatement Act.

It allows community groups and the attorney general to sue properties used to sell, store or manufacture illegal drugs. The act also allows lawsuits against properties being used to facilitate prostitution or to unlawfully store or sell guns.

Ivy City Hotel’s owners agreed in the settlement agreement to increase overnight security staffing and to maintain exterior lighting and security cameras. The cameras would be linked to the police department’s Real Time Crime Center.

The attorney general’s office reserved a right to monitor the hotel’s compliance with the agreement.?

Ivy City Hotel is located at 1615 New York Ave NE. It is owned by Ivy City Lodging, LLC, which purchased the property in 2016.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.