Hi Sam & Gina & List, I forgot most of the law I practiced before cruising, but I think my recollection is that the whole issue is handled in Admiralty within the Federal Court System if push comes to shove.
Its so specialized most lawyers do not know much about procedure. My understanding is there can be many liens against a vessel, even if they are not registered, including for past goods and services. They are not extinguished by changes in ownership, and continue to be 'in rem' against the property - the vessel. Even if a vessel is abandoned, a salvor only gets certain rights and does not own the vessel outright, but must resolve the division of ownership rights and liens in court. Its so complicated the law is ignored by some, but ignorance of the law is no excuse. Anyone with a right can always reappear and enforce the right by an action in court. The way to extinguish all the rights is for someone with a right to the vessel to sue in admiralty with all the other parties named as parties and have the court adjudicate it... (I presume without knowing it has some similarity to a court action to quiet the title to real property, similar to a foreclosure, which ends with the property being sold by the US Marshall and the parties receiving their various interests, and the new owner having clear title against all that were named as parties in court. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion only, does not constitute the practice of law and cannot be relied upon by anyone anywhere, and if you do and its wrong info....tough! <grin> PS - Sue and I aboard Angel Louise just finished a cruise across the whole Caribbean from Bonaire to Salinas, Puerto Rico where we are now. 400 miles from Tuesday morning and for 81 hours thereafter. Best advice.... my discovery of Meclizine HCI (also sold as Dramamine LESS DROWSY over the counter... FDA approved. Excellent for sea sickness! Ed & Sue Kelly aboard Angel Louise Catalac 41 Catamaran anchored at Salinas, PR. On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 1:32 PM, Sam Densler <[email protected]> wrote: > Here is the background... > > In 2004, Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, Gina and I lost our beloved > Endeavour 37 on which I lived aboard for nearly 5 years. Nearly 2 years > later, a wonderful guy bought the wreck at auction and fixed her up to > probably 80% of her pre-hurricane grandeur. In fact, he invited me to > sail her back to his home port on her maiden voyage when she was ready > to go. Unfortunately, personal and medical issues forced him to put her > up for sale and in short order, she was sold to a new owner somewhere up > north. At that point, I lost contact with owners and the vessel. Last > year, one of our very own list members emailed me that she was spotted > at anchor just outside the very marina where I had helped deliver her. > Looked like she had been sitting there for a long time. Turns out, the > new owner didn't want to pay marina fees so he had her anchored in open > water just outside the marina and she had been there since, more than a > year. Now, another year later, she still sits there, in a serious state > of disrepair. Oddly enough, the guy that bought the vessel from auction > (not the current owner) received a citation for an unregistered vessel > anchored in FL waters. We believe she has never actually been > registered by the new owner. > > > So here is the question... > > At what point is the vessel considered abandoned? What would be > involved in taking back possession of the vessel? Is it as simple as > some have told us that we can just take possession and register her as > ours since she was abandoned? Does the current "owner" have any rights > to her since she has not been registered and is obviously not in > compliance with current Florida law? > > We would love to have her back to fix up. Any clarification on the > legal aspects would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > Sam and Gina > > > > > > -- > **************************** > > Sam Densler > mailto:[email protected] > http://www.islandfx.com/lady > > S/V Lady of the Lake > PDQ 36, Hull #15 > Melbourne, FL > > S/V Stories She Could Tell > Endeavour 37, Hull #454 > Destroyed by Hurricane Frances 2004 > Reborn and sailing again in 2007 > > **************************** > > "If you ever wonder why you ride the carousel, > you do it for the stories you can tell." > > Jimmy Buffett > "Stories We Could Tell" > A1A > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to [email protected] > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html > -- Ed Kelly sailing vessel ANGEL LOUISE - Catalac 12m Skype Cell telephone: 202-657-6357 [email protected] _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
