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Steven D. Merryday, the federal district judge in Tampa, Florida, who is hearing the case pitting the Spanish state against Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., rejected the motion presented by the U.S. government on Aug. 27 in defense of Spain's interests.
But he gave Washington until Oct. 2 to present a new motion and written report of no more than 10 pages, according to what sources with Odyssey told Efe on Tuesday.
The U.S. Justice Department presented itself as a friend of the court in the civil proceedings between Odyssey and Spain to determine who owns the more than 17 tons of treasure that the Tampa-based firm brought up from the bottom of the Atlantic in 2007.
Immediately, Odyssey asked the Florida court to reject the U.S. government report, which cites a 1902 friendship treaty between Washington and Madrid.
The original U.S. motion was presented four days before the Spanish government responded, over Odyssey's objections that it opposed the recommendation of another judge to hand over to Spain the treasure consisting of 594,000 gold and silver coins.
Merryday has now ruled that Odyssey will be given the opportunity to respond to the second motion from Washington and to any additional filing by the Spanish government, a spokesperson for the company told Efe.
In a June 3 report, federal Magistrate Mark Pizzo said Spain had demonstrated that the source of the treasure Odyssey salvaged from Atlantic waters in May 2007 was the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, a Spanish navy frigate destroyed in battle in 1804.
Pizzo concluded the wreck and its contents were subject to the principle of sovereign immunity and that the loot should be handed over to Madrid.
The Mercedes sank in action against a British fleet on Oct. 5, 1804, off the coast of southern Portugal, and Spain claims not only the vessel and cargo, but a right to preserve the gravesite of more than 250 Spanish sailors and citizens who went down with the frigate.
Odyssey, however, contends that Pizzo ignored "clear and convincing evidence of the commercial nature of the Mercedes' mission at the time of her demise," a factor the firm "believes legally nullifies the claim to sovereign immunity of that vessel."
"The majority of the coins aboard the Mercedes were merchant-owned, commercial cargo being shipped as freight for a fee and were never owned by Spain," Odyssey maintains. EFE
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