The Maryland Attorney General’s Office is beginning to build its case against Grace Ocean Private, the company that owns the Dali, which hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge last March, by looking into a Danish marine tech company.
The AG is asking ZeroNorth for its communications information with Grace Ocean as part of the discovery phase of the case.
ZeroNorth owns the software SMARTShip, which is used to remotely monitor vessels.
“The communications of the owners and managers of the M/V DALI with Alpha Ori and ZeroNorth will be critical in establishing how SMARTShip was utilized onboard the M/V DALI and what information shoreside personnel chose to monitor,” the AG wrote.
The request marks the first inquiries in what is likely to be a huge discovery phase involving 55 different parties suing Grace Ocean.
The first trial for the case is not scheduled until June 2026.
The AG is trying to make the case that Grace Ocean was negligent in its operation and maintenance of the vessel that hit the Key Bridge.
Grace Ocean is currently asking for limited liability under a nineteenth century maritime law, which would cap what it has to pay at $44 million.
If the claimants in the case can show the ship was not seaworthy then Grace Ocean will not be eligible for the limited liability, opening it up to all sorts of remediation.
Michael Karcher, a maritime law professor at the University of Miami, says the discovery phase will likely bring in vast amounts of information regarding the company and the ship.
“What is the condition of the ship? What is the privity and knowledge of the owner? What repairs were done to the ship, what electrical issues did it have? Why did the ship veer off course?” Karcher said. “Discovery in terms of damages is going to be all over the board. You have 55 different people whose damages are all completely different from each other, and that could keep people busy for a long time.”
The AG’s office recently tried to expedite the trial for Maryland by asking the federal judge overseeing the case the AG could sue in state court.
The judge denied that motion.
The U.S. Justice Department already settled with the companies for more than $102 million for the cleanup of the incident.
The U.S. response to the Key Bridge disaster involved efforts from dozens of federal, state and local agencies.
Responders removed about 50,000 tons of steel, concrete and asphalt from the Patapsco River.
The incident closed most ship traffic to the Port of Baltimore for nearly three months.
Grace Ocean also paid nearly $100,000 to the Coast Guard National Pollution Fund Center to deal with oil pollution from the incident.
