U.S. gov't to file another pro-Spain brief in treasure case
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OMEX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A federal judge ruled that the U.S.
government may present a new motion favorable to the interests of
Spain in the battle over $500 million in gold and silver coins
salvaged more than two years ago by a Florida treasure-hunting firm.
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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