Floating crane broke free, smacked into a Tacoma waterfront eatery. Was it negligence?
The insurer of a Tacoma waterfront restaurant has sued the owner and operator of a crane-carrying barge that broke away during a windstorm in 2020, drifted against the shore and smacked into the eatery’s building on Ruston Way.
Katie Downs Waterfront Tavern was struck by the wayward barge on Sept. 7, 2020, and sustained “substantial damage,” according to a lawsuit filed last week in Pierce County Superior Court by Continental Western Insurance Company, which made payments to the restaurant to cover damages.
The suit, filed Aug. 22, blames the barge’s operator, Everett-based Nordholm Companies, Inc., and the barge’s owner, Seattle-based Foss Maritime Co., LLC, for the incident, citing negligence.
“The damages and/or destruction of property owned by CWI’s insured, Katie Downs, was caused by the failure of the Defendants to use due diligence to assure that the barge was well-moored and properly secured,” the legal filing states.
Messages left for Nordholm Companies and Foss Maritime on Wednesday were not returned by deadline.
The extent of damages sustained by the family-owned restaurant, opened in 1982, were unclear. Attorney Eric Hanson, who is representing the insurance company, declined to comment when reached by phone. A message left for a restaurant representative wasn’t immediately returned.
The barge was carrying a shipping crane, owned by SSA Terminals, that had been transported from the Port of Seattle to the Port of Tacoma, according to the lawsuit, when high winds snapped the lines that secured the barge. It was one of the company’s two cranes that had been relocated, the Northwest Seaport Alliance said at the time.
An eyewitness spotted the floating crane from an apartment window and called the Tacoma Police Department shortly before 11 p.m. and soon after the Coast Guard was informed, The News Tribune previously reported.
While authorities assessed the incident from tug boats, a stretch of Ruston Way between the 2300 and 4900 blocks was closed. It reopened around 1:30 a.m., and the barge was returned to the West Sitcum Terminal roughly an hour and a half later.
At the time of the incident, authorities did not report any injuries and said that damages were being assessed. The floating dock at Old Town Dock reportedly sustained damage and was removed by Metro Parks Tacoma staff.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified judgment to be determined by the court and other court-related costs.
This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
