"The sooner you bring a piece of litigation, the sooner you find out what the facts are," attorney Richard Silver said about the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

Questions remain unanswered after a container ship hit a major Baltimore bridge, causing it to collapse early Tuesday morning.

And key among the issues for plaintiffs lawyers: Who might be held liable for the tragedy at the Francis Scott Key Bridge?

It's a complicated question.

Timing Is Key

Florida personal injury attorney Scott Schlesinger, founder of Schlesinger Law Offices, said determining liability will depend on an array of facts—which largely remain unknown in the hours following the incident.

"Who was driving the boat? Was there some sort of mechanical failure? Was it going too fast? Was it an inexperienced captain? Was there a weather issue? Were there abutments in the water to protect the main support structure?" Schlesinger asked. "If I was investigating the case, because somebody that was on the bridge had a family member that called me, these are all the things I'd be doing at the scene."

And lawyers might cast a wide net.

For instance, Schlesinger weighed a general lack of care for bridges across the United States, which lag on maintenance, repairs and updates amid funding shortages for such infrastructural projects.

Another attorney suggested a similar strategy.

Richard Silver, senior partner at Connecticut firm Silver Golub & Teitell, was lead counsel for plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking relief after multiple deaths from the Mianus River Bridge collapse in Greenwich in the 1980s.

Silver said the investigation showed a defect in the Mianus River Bridge, but the firm that designed the bridge was not held liable because the structure had met design standards when it was built in the 1950s.

So plaintiffs counsel asked the state Supreme Court to declare that the seven-year statute of limitations for civil negligence lawsuits against architects was unconstitutional.

Their request failed, as the high court was not convinced.

In the end, the plaintiffs and the state settled the case at around $6.3 million for four of the victims of the collapse.

The attorney predicts plaintiffs counsel might face similar hurdles regarding the collapse of the Baltimore bridge, which was built in 1972—especially if the structure's design becomes a contributing factor of the collapse.

"Bridges have to be maintained, and that is traditionally an area that is sometimes neglected," Silver said. "I couldn't believe how quickly [the Baltimore] bridge collapsed. However, if it's past the statute of limitations, you can't bring a case against the designer. But we need an engineer to say why that bridge collapsed."

Only time will tell if the bridge fully collapsed because of a structure or maintenance issue, Silver said.

"The sooner you bring a piece of litigation, the sooner you find out what the facts are," he said.

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Connecticut personal injury lawyer Peter Bowman of BBB Attorneys said a common defense is to point fingers elsewhere to avoid liability.

For example, a defendant might argue: "It wasn't our crew, the ship failed; It wasn't the ship, it was the maintenance; It wasn't the maintenance, it was the old ship," Bowman said. "They will pass the buck around."

Bowman said it's important as an attorney to get involved in investigating the circumstances early.

"There will be many entities in multilayered investigation that we have done in cases, and that can be overwhelming at first, but it's something that you want to make you understand exactly what' happened," he said.

Bowman said the focus right now should be on finding the survivors and recovering those who may have died in the accident. "Our hearts go out to the victims," he said.

Details Emerging

The owner of the ship, Synergy Group, that crashed into the bridge said in a statement that the vessel hit one of the structure's supporting pillars at around 1:30 a.m. The ship had two pilots to aid with safe navigation in the harbor, the Synergy Group said in its statement. There were no reports of any injuries to the crew on the ship, the company said.

Meanwhile, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the cargo ship lost power before the crash, and the mayday call gave local officials a chance to keep traffic off the bridge before it collapsed. A construction crew was also fixing potholes on the bridge, but the bridge collapsed right before officers could alert the workers, according to AP News.

Theories about why the crash occurred are swirling, but the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office shut down claims it was a terrorist attack.

"There is no evidence at this time to suggest that today's collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has any ties to terrorism. My office will continue to coordinate with our federal, state, and local partners to provide any support necessary," U.S. Attorney Barron said. "I am praying for the families and friends of the victims and everyone affected by this tragic event."

Early news reports noted rescuers had pulled two people from the water, and rescuers are still searching for six construction workers.

Bowman, the Connecticut personal injury lawyer, suggested attorneys would play a major role in the coming months, and could help ensure stronger protocols.

"We want to make sure that our world is as safe as possible," he said. "We believe trial attorneys are some of the most powerful forces in safety and to limit injuries going forward."