Jensen v. Knight, Rollinger, USCG
Sep 11, 2014OUTCOME: USCG NVDC action “final” under APA & venue is not automatically in either DC or WV for NVDC . This Court became the second in the US to rule that Rule B makes assets protected by state statute venerable to maritime creditors as a matter of preemption
My clients, Plaintiffs, sold a boat to Defendants and self financed the transaction. A non-admiralty attorney was jointly hired by the parties and that attorney failed to properly draft a first prefer ... red ship mortgage. Defendant’s made two payments and defaulted. They and the vessel are in Panama. Plaintiffs brought a rule B quasi in rem action seizing various accounts in TX. The USCG refused to file (much less record) the mortgage. USCG moved to dismiss and Defendants moved to vacate the seizure under the theory that TX state law prevented the seizure of retirement funds. The Court held that USCG action in failing to file the first mortgage constituted a final agency action and venue was appropriate in TX not DC as USCG alleged. The Court held Rule B and maritime law preempted state law protecting certain assets as exempt therefore those assets are not only available for attachment related to jurisdiction but they are also available to satisfy the judgment.
