Titanic law could help ship owner limit liability in Baltimore bridge collapse

NEW YORK – The owner of the Singapore-flagged ship that rammed into a Baltimore bridge could face hundreds of millions of dollars in damage claims after the accident sent vehicles plunging into the water and threw the eastern US transportation network into chaos. But legal experts said there is a path for reducing liability under an obscure 19th-century law once invoked by the owner of the Titanic to limit its payout for the 1912 sinking. The law was passed initially to prevent shipping giants from suffering steep and insurmountable losses from disasters at sea. An eight-figure sum, while still hefty, would amount to “considerably less” than the full claims total, he said. ‘Very Unusual’“It’s a very unusual casualty in one respect, particularly because of this footage of the whole bridge falling down,” Mr Davies said.