Star Bulk and Navision Shipping invoke Exxon Valdez law to lodge claims in Dali case

Types : In the News

After the US government opens the door to Oil Pollution Act claims, dry bulk companies walk right through it

Star Bulk Carriers and Navision Shipping have lodged claims in the case over the container ship that destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, days after a filing by the US Justice Department raised the prospect of seeking economic losses under an oil pollution law.

The moves are part of the latest round of claims by state and local governments, shipping companies and local businesses that allegedly suffered economic losses in the casualty involving the 9,962-teu Dali (built 2015).

The new claims were filed as a deadline approached on Tuesday night in a case that began when Dali owner Grace Ocean and manager Synergy Marine asked a court to limit their liability to less than $44m. Claims now far exceed that amount.

Many of the new claims seek to recover economic damages that are typically not allowed in such limitation-of-liability cases.

But even before filing the claim on behalf of the two bulker players, Montgomery McCracken’s O’Connor hinted at the potential for the Oil Pollution Act to serve as a way around Robins Dry Dock.

“The inclusion of a count under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 is significant because — unlike the Robins Dry Dock doctrine — OPA 90 allows recovery of economic damages,” he said on LinkedIn.