Opinion ID: 516020
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A Diligent and Good Faith Search

Text: 19 The DAUNTLESS interests contend that this circuit's decisions in Allied Chemical 5 and Nunley I require Combi to have done more in order for its actions to qualify as a good faith search. We disagree. 20 In Allied Chemical, the owner of a sunken vessel employed sophisticated equipment and techniques and began his search on the day after the apparent sinking. The owners also hired divers to search for the wreck. Like the owners in Allied, Combi began its search for its vessel the first day after the barge breakaway; a Combi representative joined a Coast Guard helicopter search for missing vessels. Combi also hired Elwood Groom, who was skilled in using magnetometers and interpreting their readings, to conduct a search using both a magnetometer and a fathometer. 21 The DAUNTLESS interests mistakenly contend that Combi's failure to send a diver down to identify positively the two objects found in Groom's search is inconsistent with the district court's good faith finding. It is true that no divers were sent down, but as the record clearly indicates, river conditions were too dangerous to allow their use. According to trial testimony this dangerous condition lasted into the summer of 1974, by which time Combi considered the barge abandoned. 6 22 Further, our decision in Nunley I merely reiterated our position that a good faith search, such as the one conducted in Allied Chemical, could exonerate a non-negligent owner of a sunken vessel from his duties under the Wreck Act. 33 U.S.C. Sec. 409. 23 In fact, having read all of the DAUNTLESS interests' criticisms of the Combi search, we have found few additional actions that Combi could actually have taken. 7 The DAUNTLESS interests suggest that Combi should have conducted a more thorough follow-up on several reports of sunken objects or sightings of sinking vessels. We agree that such action would have been desirable, but it is not clear from the testimony that this additional information would have been conclusive. The Combi magnetometer and fathometer search identified two objects on the river bottom: one near the Algiers Lock Forebay and one near the Tenneco dock. According to the deposition of Combi representative Captain Plantinga, the apparent difference in size of the two objects greatly influenced Combi's determination that the object near the Algiers Forebay was most likely the Combi barge. The object near the Tenneco dock was thought to be too large to be the missing LASH barge. In contrast, the object near the Algiers Lock had dimensions more in keeping with that of a LASH barge. The district court apparently found Combi's decision as to which object was most likely to be its barge reasonable in light of the apparently different lengths. 24 Finally, we must remember our standard of review. In a trial that consumed weeks and many volumes of record, the district court was in the best position to evaluate Combi's efforts in locating its missing barge. Having reviewed the record in this case, we cannot say that the district court clearly erred.