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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Edwards Sued by Spain Over Treasure Ship
2007-05-31
What irony - the sleazy lawyer gets hit with a sleazy lawsuit.
MADRID, Spain (AP) - The Spanish government said Thursday it has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court against an American firm over a shipwreck the company has found laden with a colonial-era treasure. If the vessel was Spanish or was removed from Spanish waters, any treasure would belong to Spain, Spain says.

"Odyssey Marine Exploration has been requested in a letter to provide information concerning the identity of the ship and the material recovered, and has not responded with the details we were asking for," said Susana Tello, Culture Ministry spokeswoman. "Spain has decided to go to (the) courts to claim its right in case the discovery is Spanish," she added. The lawsuit was filed in Tampa, Fla. on Tuesday, Tello said.

A message and e-mail left for an Odyssey spokeswoman were not immediately returned early Thursday.

Odyssey announced two weeks ago that it had discovered a shipwreck containing 500,000 gold and silver coins somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The Florida-based company said the site was outside any country's territorial waters but would not give the exact location or name of the ship.

In Britain, the find generated press reports that Odyssey had salvaged the wreck of the long-sought British vessel Merchant Royal, which sank in bad weather off England in 1641. Odyssey has not confirmed or denied these reports. Odyssey has said that the ship was not in Spanish territorial waters and was not HMS Sussex, a shipwreck that Odyssey recently got permission from the Spanish government to search for in the Strait of Gibraltar.

But Spain has called the new discovery suspicious and said the booty may have come from a wrecked Spanish galleon.
No real sympathy for Edwards, but some kind of salvage or abandoned property or stature of limitations thing just has to apply here.
No statute of limitations for $500 million in gold.
Posted by:Glenmore

#23  oops! Coordinates lost! Damaged by seawater....damn
Posted by: Frank G   2007-05-31 21:51  

#22  Interesting that Shepherd Smith didn't mention the Breck Girl's connection.
Posted by: anonymous2u   2007-05-31 20:38  

#21  Late reporting district changes the outcome. And we not talking hanging chads.

"This in rem admiralty action concerns the sovereign rights of the Kingdom of Spain to two of its Royal Naval vessels, LA GALGA and JUNO, which were lost off the shores of present-day Virginia in 1750
and 1802 respectively. Pursuant to the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987 (ASA), 43 U.S.C. § 2101-06 (1994), Virginia has asserted ownership over the shipwrecks and has issued Sea Hunt permits to conduct salvage operations and recover artifacts from the wrecks. These efforts resulted in the discovery of two wrecks believed to be LA GALGA and JUNO. Sea Hunt filed an in rem admiralty complaint, and the district court ordered an arrest of the shipwrecks, appointing Sea Hunt the exclusive salvor. Spain filed a verified claim asserting ownership over the shipwrecks. The district court found that Spain retained title to JUNO, but had expressly abandoned LA GALGA in the 1763 Definitive Treaty of Peace. See Sea Hunt, Inc. v. Unidentified, Shipwrecked Vessel or Vessels, 47 F. Supp. 2d 678 (E.D. Va. 1999). The district court also denied Sea Hunt a salvage award. As sovereign vessels of Spain, LA GALGA and JUNO are covered by the 1902 Treaty of Friendship and General Relations between the United States and Spain. The reciprocal immunities established by this treaty are essential to protecting United States shipwrecks and military gravesites. Under the terms of this treaty, Spanish vessels, like those belonging to the United States, may only be abandoned by express acts. Sea Hunt cannot show by clear and convincing evidence that the Kingdom of Spain has expressly abandoned these ships in either the 1763 Treaty or the 1819 Treaty of Amity, Settlement and Limits, which ended the War of 1812. We therefore reverse the judgment of the district court with regard to LA GALGA, and affirm the judgment of the district court concerning JUNO and the denial of a salvage award."
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=4th&navby=case&no=992035P
US Court of Appeals. SCOTUS refused to take petition on appeal. So if the company is organized under and subject to US law, then this case finding would imply that the 1905 Treaty is in effect, if it is a Spanish ship.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-05-31 20:22  

#20  give 'em Edward's share
Posted by: Frank G   2007-05-31 18:10  

#19  Trade the gold for Cuba's freedom.
Posted by: anonymous2u   2007-05-31 17:43  

#18  Yeah! What HE said!
Posted by: Moctezuma   2007-05-31 17:34  

#17  Hey Spanish, gimme back my gold!
Posted by: Atahualpa   2007-05-31 17:11  

#16  That deserves a short but serious reply.

I suggest "Finders keepers. Neener neener."
Posted by: mojo   2007-05-31 16:40  

#15  Not a problem, 3dc. No doubt the European Union will stand up to take rightful possession of its "cultural and historical heritage". Just as soon as Spain takes its pound kilo of flesh out of the Odyssy shareholders' backsides.

Noble, nuanced EU will easily remove the taint of all that filthy lucre.
Posted by: Seafarious   2007-05-31 16:18  

#14  Also, if it was a Spanish treasure ship - how many died for Spain to collect the treasure?

Doesn't Socialist Spain see the moral quandary here?

Perhaps it better to have less tainted hands than Spanish ones touch the gold?

Posted by: 3dc   2007-05-31 13:30  

#13  It is obviously a ship from Atlantis. Spain should be ashamed!
Posted by: 3dc   2007-05-31 13:27  

#12  Lawyers must be hard up for business if they are sueing each other now.
Posted by: JohnQC   2007-05-31 13:06  

#11  mmmmmmmmmmmmm.....salage.....
Posted by: ChunkyLover   2007-05-31 13:03  

#10  salvage
Posted by: gorb   2007-05-31 12:35  

#9  Don't salage laws make shipwrecks fair game?
Posted by: gorb   2007-05-31 12:34  

#8  discovered a shipwreck...somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. [T]he site was outside any country's territorial waters ...

There is some statute of limitations after which it would be considered abandoned property, I think... if not exactly flotsam and jetsam. And certainly the middle of the Atlantic has never belonged to Spain, even if certain of the territory bordering it did until Napoleon Buonoparte decided to conquer Spain for the greater glory of his French empire.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-05-31 10:49  

#7  Odyssey HMS Besoeker spokesman announced two weeks ago that it had yet to discovered a shipwreck containing 500,000 gold and silver coins somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Silly wonks announcing!
Posted by: Besoeker   2007-05-31 10:46  

#6  He gonna start bitchin about the Two Spains now?
Posted by: tu3031   2007-05-31 10:42  

#5  ...known by the name of East and West Florida.

But this shipwreck was off the coast of Europe, nowhere near Florida.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2007-05-31 10:18  

#4  Oh the irony....
I hope Spain rapes him. Really.
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-05-31 09:56  

#3  Why would any U.S. Federal Court have jurisdiction over any of this? It clearly took place outside our waters. Is that communist bastard so hard up for cash?
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2007-05-31 09:17  

#2  It'll last as long till the corporation gets the Adams-Onis Treaty entered into the record.

Article II

His Catholic Majesty cedes to the United States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida. The adjacent islands dependent on said provinces, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, public edifices, fortifications, barracks, and other buildings, which are not private property, archives and documents, which relate directly to the property and sovereignty of said provinces, are included in this article. The said archives and documents shall be left in possession of the commissaries or officers of the United States, duly authorized to receive them.

Since it sunk before the treaty, it would be under the 'property and sovereignty' clause.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-05-31 08:25  

#1  Maybe the Breck Girl will be able to channel the Dread Pirate Roberts to sway the jury.
Posted by: doc   2007-05-31 08:10  

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