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Lawyers fail to recognize a vessel
In the days before Hurricane Katrina came along the coast like the fifth horseman of the apocalypse, there was a riverboat casino called Bally’s tied up the the dock at the South Shore Harbor marina on Lake Pontchartrain in eastern New Orleans. The combination of storm surge and wind knocked the old girl around and sent her off to dry dock for repairs. While it was on repair, lawyers weren’t on rest and tried to leave it in docks forever. It seems the rent for tying up at the dock was payable even though the poor old thing might sink. But if you get lawyers involved, claims rocket upwards. By the time they’d finished, the claim for rent was $20.6m, there were “fees” of $1.6m, and a repair bill of $1.5m - the riverboat knocked into the marina dock and did some damage. So the owners sold the riverboat (always sell your assets when sued). It’s renamed the Amanda Belle and up at Bayou Boeuf in St. Mary Parish. But on July 25 the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the case. The judges offered the insight that a riverboat is a “vessel” (it floats and has a paddle to make it move) but the lease was for buildings. Without a maritime lease, there was no cause of action.
Attention all lawyers. Anything that floats is a ship, OK!
