SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Justice Department filed a lawsuit last Friday accusing the pilot and the owners of the container ship Cosco Busan of breaking environmental laws when the ship struck a bridge support in San Francisco Bay, spilling 58,000 gallons of toxic oil.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court, alleges that the November 7 crash violated the National Marine Sanctuary Act, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and the Park System Resource Protection Act. It accused the defendants of "fault, negligence and breach of federal safety and operating regulations."

It names as defendants Regal Stone and Fleet Management, the listed owners, operators and managers of the Cosco Busan; Captain John Cota, who was at the helm during the crash; and Bermuda-based Shipowners Insurance and Guaranty Company, or Sigco, which insured the ship.

Regal Stone and Fleet Management are "believed to be headquartered in Hong Kong," the suit states.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages to compensate taxpayers for the federal response to the spill. It said the sum of those damages "is not known and shall be established according to proof at the time of trial."

The government said the oil spill had affected the Gulf of Farrallones National Marine Sanctuary, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Point Reyes National Seashore and other protected federal waters.

Attorneys with Keesal Young & Logan, a law firm representing Regal Stone, did not return numerous phone calls and e-mail messages seeking comment. Jim Lawrence, a spokesman for Regal Stone, said the company hadn't seen the lawsuit.

"We are committed to the investigation and are not speaking publicly about it or any pending legal matters out of respect for those processes," Lawrence said.

John Meadows, an attorney for Cota, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment last Friday; nor did Fleet Management, which, according to Lawrence, provides technical advice to the ship owners. Phones at Sigco's Bermuda offices rang unanswered.

The ship is being repaired in San Francisco, and the government said in the lawsuit it had the right to "arrest" the Cosco Busan, which is a form of impoundment meant to ensure its owners pay the damages. But the Justice Department wanted to avoid that step, instead seeking a "letter of undertaking" as a form of "substitute security," the court filing said.

Also Friday, the state Board of Pilot Commissioners suspended Cota's pilot license while several investigations into the crash are ongoing. It said the suspension "should not be viewed as a prejudgment of pilot error."