Mr Brown, filed the suit on Tuesday on behalf of the state, against the owners, operators and pilot of the ship that caused the Nov 7, 2007, spill when it collided with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in heavy fog.

The federal government has already filed a similar lawsuit and the state has previously sued for the damage done to the bridge.

Pilot John Cota and the ship's operator Fleet Management Ltd. have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to crash. -- AP