DOJ seeks over $100M in damages from ship owner over Baltimore bridge collapse

The big picture: The Justice Department is seeking more than $100 million in damages to recoup the costs of responding to and cleaning up the disaster.

• "With this civil claim, the Justice Department is working to ensure that the costs of clearing the channel and reopening the Port of Baltimore are borne by the companies that caused the crash, not by the American taxpayer," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
• The government is also seeking an unspecified amount of punitive damages from the Dali owner, Grace Ocean Private, and its operator, Synergy Marine Private.
• The punitive damages are meant to "keep this type of conduct from ever happening again," Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a statement.

Zoom in: "This tragedy was entirely avoidable," the lawsuit stated, adding that the Dali's mechanical and electrical systems were "improperly maintained and configured in a way that violated safety regulations."

• The Dali lost power the day before the collision, the National Transportation Safety Board wrote in a preliminary report about the accident.
• This isn't the first time the ship's operator and owner have come under fire — in April, the city of Baltimore formally accused them of negligence.

Go deeper: "Unthinkable tragedy": Major Baltimore bridge collapses after ship collision