R.M.S. Titanic v. The Wrecked and Abandoned

• Decision Date: 31 January 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-1933.,04-1933.
• Parties: R.M.S. TITANIC, INCORPORATED, successor in interest to Titanic Ventures, limited partnership, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE WRECKED AND ABANDONED VESSEL, its engines, tackle, apparel, appurtenances, cargo, etc., located within one (1) nautical mile of a point located at 41 43'32" North Latitude and 49 56'49" West Longitude, believed to be the RMS Titanic, in rem, Defendant. University of Virginia Appellate Litigation Clinic, Amicus Curiae, Alain De Foucaud, Amicus Supporting Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

435 F.3d 521

R.M.S. TITANIC, INCORPORATED, successor in interest to Titanic Ventures, limited partnership, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE WRECKED AND ABANDONED VESSEL, its engines, tackle, apparel, appurtenances, cargo, etc., located within one (1) nautical mile of a point located at 41 43'32" North Latitude and 49 56'49" West Longitude, believed to be the RMS Titanic, in rem, Defendant.

University of Virginia Appellate Litigation Clinic, Amicus Curiae,

Alain De Foucaud, Amicus Supporting Appellant.

No. 04-1933.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: October 26, 2005.

Decided: January 31, 2006.

ARGUED: David Jeremy Bederman, Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellant. Neal Lawrence Walters, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Amicus Curiae. ON BRIEF: J. Ridgely Porter, III, Matthew D. Pethybridge, Carr & Porter, L.L.C., Portsmouth, Virginia, for Appellant. John Paul Jones, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, for Alain de Foucaud, Amicus Supporting Appellant.

Before WILKINS, Chief Judge, and NIEMEYER and KING, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge NIEMEYER wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge WILKINS and Judge KING joined.

OPINION

NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge:

For over ten years, R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. ("RMST") has functioned as the exclusive salvor-in-possession of the wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic, which lies in international waters. In a motion filed on February 12, 2004, RMST requested that the district court enter an order awarding it "title to all the artifacts (including portions of the hull) which are the subject of this action pursuant to the law of finds" (emphasis added) or, in the alternative, a salvage award in the amount of $225 million. RMST excluded from its motion any claim for an award of title to the 1,800 artifacts retrieved from the Titanic in 1987 and taken to France—well before this in rem action was commenced—asserting that a French administrative agency had already awarded it title to those artifacts. But it did request that the district court declare that, based on the French administrative action, "the artifacts raised during the 1987 expedition are independently owned by RMST."

Following a hearing, the district court entered an order dated July 2, 2004, in which it (1) refused to grant comity and recognize the decision of a French administrator awarding RMST title to the 1987 artifacts, and (2) rejected RMST's claim that it should be awarded title to the artifacts recovered since 1993 under the maritime law of finds. R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. v. Wrecked & Abandoned Vessel Believed to be the R.M.S. Titanic, 323 F.Supp.2d 724, 744-45 (E.D.Va.2004).

On RMST's appeal from the district court's order, we conclude that the district court lacked in rem jurisdiction over the 1987 artifacts or other jurisdiction to declare the right to title in the 1987 artifacts, and therefore we vacate that part of the court's July 2, 2004 order which relates to those artifacts. Otherwise we affirm. In remanding this case to the district court, we also recognize explicitly the appropriateness of applying maritime salvage law to historic wrecks such as the Titanic.

I

The R.M.S. Titanic sank in 1912 in the North Atlantic, where the ocean is over 12,000 feet deep, and not until 1985 was the site of the wreck discovered.

Beginning in 1987, a joint American-French expedition, which included the predecessor of RMST, began salvage operations and, during 32 dives, recovered approximately 1,800 artifacts (the "1987 artifacts") which were taken to France for conservation and restoration. In 1993, a French administrator in the Office of Maritime Affairs of the Ministry of Equipment, Transportation, and Tourism awarded RMST's predecessor title to the artifacts.

This in rem action was commenced on August 26, 1993, against artifacts recovered from the Titanic in dives in 1993 and against the Titanic itself. Several months later, the district court issued an order declaring RMST salvor-in-possession of the artifacts that had been brought to the Eastern District of Virginia, as well as of the wreck itself and artifacts not yet retrieved from the wreck. Over the years since, there have been numerous district court opinions and two opinions from our court relating to the salvage operations.¹

On June 18, 2003, RMST filed a motion to set this case for trial and take evidence "as to whether or not the law of finds and/or the law of salvage would apply, to determine whether the R.M.S. Titanic was a lost and abandoned vessel, and/or to make a liberal salvage award to plaintiff for its efforts expended in this case." In response, the district court observed that there were no adverse parties "currently involved in the case" and there are "no pending issues before the court for trial." Accordingly, the court denied the motion to set the case for trial. But the court allowed RMST to petition the court for a salvage award or a change in its status by filing a motion.

Following the court's invitation, RMST filed a "Motion for Salvage and/or Finds Award." In its motion, RMST requested an award of title "to all the artifacts (including portions of the hull) which are the subject of this action pursuant to the law of finds," or, in the alternative, a "liberal salvage award" in the amount of $225 million for salvage operations conducted since 1993. RMST claimed that since the cost of salvage has exceeded the value of artifacts recovered from the Titanic, the artifacts should be granted to RMST as an in specie salvage award. In its motion, RMST explicitly excluded from its requests any relief with respect to the 1987 artifacts, title to which a French administrator transferred to RMST. In addition, it sought an affirmative ruling from the district court that "the artifacts raised during the 1987 expedition are independently owned by RMST." In respect to that request, RMST filed a "Notice of Intent to Raise Issues Concerning the Law of Foreign Countries" on May 14, 2004, praying that the district court, as a matter of comity, recognize the 1993 French administrator's decision granting RMST title to the 1987 artifacts.

By a memorandum and order dated July 2, 2004, the district court refused to recognize the French administrator's decision awarding RMST title to the 1987 artifacts and rejected RMST's claims to title of all artifacts under the law of finds, concluding that such relief would be inconsistent with RMST's continuing role as salvor-in-possession of the Titanic. R.M.S. Titanic, 323 F.Supp.2d at 744-45. The court also scheduled a hearing for October 18, 2004, to determine the amount of an appropriate salvage award. Id. at 745. When RMST filed this interlocutory appeal from the district court's order, the court issued a stay pending our decision. See R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. v. Wrecked & Abandoned Vessel Believed to be the R.M.S. Titanic, 327 F.Supp.2d 664, 665-66 (E.D.Va.2004).

Because there was no party in opposition to RMST to represent the position of the district court on appeal, we invited the University of Virginia School of Law's Appellate Litigation Clinic to file an amicus brief to serve as the answering brief. The Clinic has again performed a valuable service and helped to maintain the adversarial process.

II

As a threshold matter, the amicus challenges our jurisdiction to review the district court's July 2, 2004 order because that order was interlocutory. RMST claims that appellate jurisdiction is conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(3) (authorizing appeals of interlocutory decrees "determining the rights and liabilities of the parties to admiralty cases in which appeals from final decrees are allowed"). The question thus arises whether the district court, in its July 2, 2004 order, determined the "rights and liabilities" of RMST when the court (1) implicitly asserted in rem jurisdiction over the 1987 artifacts and denied comity to the 1993 French Administrator's decision, and (2) held that RMST is barred from seeking title to artifacts under the law of finds.

As a general proposition, jurisdiction of courts of appeals is limited by the finality requirement expressed in 28 U.S.C. § 1291, which provides that courts of appeals "shall have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the district courts of the United States" (emphasis added). The rule of finality "is an important component of the judicial structure, for . . . it prevents the entanglement of the district and appellate courts in each other's adjudications in an unruly and ultimately inefficient way." Evergreen Int'l (USA) Corp. v. Standard Warehouse, 33 F.3d 420, 423 (4th Cir.1994). But there are numerous exceptions to the general rule based on overriding policy considerations. In enacting § 1292(a)(3), Congress provided an exception in the admiralty context. As the Eighth Circuit has explained:

In admiralty, trials were traditionally bifurcated. First there would be a trial before the court on the issue of liability. If there was a finding of liability, there would then be a separate hearing before a special master to ascertain damages. These damages hearings were often both lengthy and costly. Congress intended 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(3) to permit parties to appeal the finding of liability on the merits, before undergoing the long, burdensome, and perhaps unnecessary damages proceeding.

City of Fort Madison v. Emerald Lady, 990 F.2d 1086, 1089 (8th Cir.1993) (citation omitted); see also 16 Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 3927 (1996). And we have repeatedly affirmed this understanding of § 1292(a)(3). See Evergreen, 33 F.3d at 424 (noting that "[t]his understanding of the statute's purpose is universal"); Medomsley Steam Shipping Co. v. Elizabeth River Terminals, Inc., 317 F.2d 741, 742 (4th Cir.1963); South Carolina State Highway Dep't v. The Fort Fetterman, 236 F.2d 221, 223 (4th Cir.1956) ("That statute [the predecessor to § 1292(...