Cargo ship's owner and manager seek to limit legal liability for deadly bridge disaster in Baltimore

The owner and manager of a cargo ship that rammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge before it collapsed last week filed a court petition Monday seeking to limit their legal liability for the deadly disaster..

The companies' limitation of liability" petition is a routine but important procedure for cases litigated under U.S. maritime law..

The companies filed under a pre-Civil War provision of an 1851 maritime law that allows them to seek to limit their liability to the value of the vessel's remains after a casualty..

A report from credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS predicts the bridge collapse could become the most expensive marine insured loss in history, surpassing the record of about $1.5 billion held by the 2012 shipwreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off Italy..

The amount of money families can generally be awarded for wrongful death claims in maritime law cases is subject to several factors, including how much the person would have likely provided in financial support to their family if they had not died, funeral expenses..

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