BALTIMORE — The families of three of the six migrant construction workers killed in Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses He plans to ask a federal judge to prevent the owners of the boat that collided with the structure from avoiding legal liability.
The families announced on Tuesday they would take legal action to hold Grace Ocean Private Limited responsible for the deadly collapse. The Singapore-based company owns the giant container ship Dali, which collided with the Francis Scott Quay Bridge after losing power in late March, causing much of the bridge to collapse.
That night, eight workers performing maintenance on the bridge fell into the water. Six people diedIt took 11 weeks for the Port of Baltimore to fully reopen after the bridge collapse. Millions of dollars in economic losses.
“Six essential workers who were just doing their jobs, six men who came to this country with dreams of a better life, a better future,” Gustavo Torres, executive director of the aid group CASA, said at a press conference announcing the action. “Tragically, that future has been taken from them.”
Torres said the group seeks justice because “no corporation, no amount of money or legal loophole can erase the value of a human life.”
If a federal district court in Maryland approves the move, it would allow victims’ families to seek and receive financial compensation for their loved ones’ deaths, said Matthew Wessler of the law firm Gupta Wessler, which filed the lawsuit.
“They’ve all suffered unimaginable tragedies, they’ve lost loved ones. Some of our clients have lost their husbands, their partners. Some have lost their sons,” Wessler told CBS News, “and we believe accountability, or they believe justice here is about holding those responsible accountable.”
Mr Wessler alleged that Grace Ocean Private Limited had been “negligent”.
“We believe what we know at least at this point is that the ship should never have left port after losing power multiple times within the day or two prior to setting off,” he added.
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Wessler said he plans to file a motion to hold Grace Ocean Private Limited harmless by Sept. 24, the deadline for a lawsuit that began in federal court earlier this year seeking to mitigate liability from the accident. CBS News has reached out to the lawyers representing Grace Ocean Private Limited.
The lawsuit will be filed on behalf of the families of three construction workers who died in March: Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez, Jose Mainor Lopez Sandoval and Dorrian Lonial Castillo Cabrera.
“My husband is a hero”
Maria del Carmen Castellon called Luna Gonzalez “the best husband” and “best friend” during an exclusive television interview from her home in Glen Burnie, Md. The two immigrants from El Salvador met in the United States and married in 2017 after more than a decade together.
Maria del Carmen Castellon
Castellon said she still vividly remembered the last conversation she had with her husband on March 26, just hours before he left for his night shift on the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
“That Monday, my husband called me and said, ‘Mami, can you make me some tortillas?'” Castellon recalled.
“He kissed me and said goodbye,” Castellon added. “When we said goodbye, all I remember is him putting his phone in his car and seeing his wallpaper with our picture on it. That was the last time I saw him.”
Torres, of CASA, an advocacy group that has supported families of the dead construction workers, said the victims’ families, some of whom don’t have permanent residency in the U.S., deserve financial compensation, labor protections and work authorization.
“These are really hard-working people. They are people who have always thought about the American dream, giving back to society and building their own businesses,” Torres said.
For Castellon, justice is a difficult concept: “For me, justice is having my husband by my side, sharing all the dreams we had.”
In memory of her husband, Castellon continues to operate the food truck they opened together in Glen Burnie, where every day she cooks and sells pupusas, tortas, tacos and cheesesteaks to regular customers, many of whom are construction workers like her late husband.
Maria del Carmen Castellon
Castellon hopes to one day open her own restaurant, a dream she and her husband share. “I know that if I opened a restaurant, my husband would be so proud of me,” she says.
Castellon implored people to “not forget” her husband and the other victims of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
“They were there so that the country would have better roads and better condition bridges,” she noted.
“The only thing I want everyone to know is that to me my husband is a hero, along with his five colleagues,” Castellon said.
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