The US government has filed a $100m (£75.6m) lawsuit against the owner and operator of the cargo ship that crashed into the Baltimore Bridge.
Justice Department officials said Synergy and Grace Ocean were “well aware” of problems with the Daly before it lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, killing six people.
The government said it cost more than $100 million to clean up the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 tons of debris from the crash and reopen the Port of Baltimore.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said he wanted to ensure the costs were “borne by the companies that caused the accidents, not by American taxpayers.”
The Justice Department said any funds recovered would go toward reconstruction costs.
Days after the disaster, the bodies of six workers who died while working the night shift to patch a pothole were pulled from the Patapsco River. Family members of three of the workers said Monday that they had been Prosecution Grace Ocean.
The Justice Department lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, said the ship’s electrical and mechanical systems were improperly maintained and the crash was “entirely avoidable.”
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board found that the Dali lost power four times in less than 12 hours before it struck the bridge.
The damage took months to repair and brought commercial shipping to a standstill at the port, one of the busiest in the United States.
The 20-member crew of the Daly were trapped on board for weeks as tons of concrete and steel from the wreck tangled up the ship’s hull.
The disaster is considered the costliest maritime casualties in U.S. history.
Grace Ocean filed a motion in federal court earlier this year seeking to limit its legal liability.
