Opinion ID: 2505
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: FHT's Motion to Reduce the Attachment

Text: Having concluded that a district court may assess the reasonableness of plaintiff's claimed damages and weigh other equitable considerations when it sets or reduces a security, we turn to whether the reduction in this case was an abuse of discretion. We conclude that it was not. After considering the allegations of the complaint and undisputed evidence of the circumstances of the Vessel's attachment and release, the court concluded that TNT's damages claim was unreasonable. The facts before the district court demonstrated that TNT waited more than six months to seek the release of the Vessel from an attachment it believed was wrongful and that FHT released the Vessel immediately upon being notified that the arrest was wrongful. In these circumstances, we agree that TNT likely cannot show that the wrongful arrest of the Vessel actually caused its claimed damages, which according to TNT's allegations were suffered after TNT was aware of the wrongful arrest but before it took any action to secure the Vessel's release. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in drawing the preliminary conclusion that TNT was likely to recover only the costs it incurred in securing the release of the Vessel.