BALTIMORE — Hours before the Key Bridge fell, Maria del Carmen Castellon recalls how her husband, Miguel, stopped by her food truck for dinner. She smiles remembering how he kissed her goodbye, and how she noticed his phone wallpaper was a photo of the two of them.
"I was not to know these were the last moments I would share with my husband," she said in Spanish, translated by Lydia Walther-Rodriguez from CASA, an immigration advocacy nonprofit. Some of the victims were members of CASA, and the organization has played an active role in fighting for justice in their case.
Maria remembers her husband as a hard worker. After moving to Glen Burnie from El Salvador years ago, he worked two jobs to provide for his wife, and his five children. He died filling potholes on the Key Bridge in the middle of the night.
"His health was deteriorating. In December, he had to have a surgery on his hands. He wore his pain with dignity, and he continued to work."
Miguel helped out at the food truck during the day, and worked construction at night. Opening up their own restaurant was the couple's dream. They visited a place to rent just a few days before the collapse. But his second job helped pay the bills for his family.
"While we looked through the windows of the place we wanted to rent to start our restaurant, we imagined a future where he had a job where he did not have to suffer the laborious and dangerous work," Maria said. "Every mile driven in that food truck, every vegetable chopped, took us a step closer to our dreams. But those dreams were shattered the moment I lost him."
Now Maria fights for two causes -- justice in her husband's death, and expanded rights for immigrant workers in essential industries like construction. She and her fellow CASA members are advocating for expanded work permits and temporary protective status. The American Business Immigration Coalition wrote a letter to President Biden back in April asking for the same.
"Because we too, deserve respect and dignity," she said.
Attorneys for families of three of the victims announced their plans to file a claim against Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the company that owns the Dali ship. About a week after the collapse, Grace Ocean was trying to get ahead of these claims; the company asked a federal judge to limit its liability, or fully exonerate it from liability in the incident, denying fault for the collision. The petition invoked the Limitation of Liability Act, which dates back to 1851; it’s often called the “Titanic” law after it was successfully used to lessen that ship owner’s losses back in 1912.
"Grace Ocean has chosen the path of impunity over the path of justice. Driven by profit and self-interest, their actions seek to erase the accountability they owe to these families, to these men whose lives were stolen. But we will not let that happen," Gustavo Torres, CASA's executive director, said.
"There are no specific damages at this time that we’re seeking. That will be something a jury decides later. Right now, all the proceeding is designed to do is focus on whether the ship can limit its liability for the accident based on its conduct," Matthew Wessler, attorney for Gupta Wessler LLP, said. "What we do know, at least at this stage, is that the ship had lost power multiple times before leaving the port, and in our view, that should have led the ship to fully assess what had gone wrong and fix the problem before it left port, and it didn't do that."
Another law firm announced it was filing a claim on behalf of three victims' families back in April, also arguing the ship owner was negligent in allowing the ship to sail out of the Port of Baltimore that day. The ship's owner and manager declined to comment on both claims.
Any claims in this case need to be filed by September 24, the deadline set by a federal judge. If the claims are successful, the families can move forward with a wrongful death lawsuit. If not, they can still sue, but Grace Ocean could have its liability capped at $43 million. That's the amount the company claimsis the total value of the ship after losses and damages.
