Opinion ID: 731036
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Partial abandonment

Text: 40 The State argues, however, that even if the insurance companies did not abandon title to the Brother Jonathan, they held title to only the part of the cargo for which they paid claims. Thus, the State asserts, the portion of the wreck that was uninsured should be considered abandoned, as there is no one before the court claiming ownership of that part of the wreck. In support of its argument, the State points to the ASA Guidelines, which specify that title passes to an insurer when the insurer has paid the full value of the vessel to the owner. ASA Guidelines, 55 Fed.Reg. 50120-21 (1990). The district court responded by noting that it is premature for the court to find that any individual items of cargo or personal property have been abandoned, pointing out that when the discovery of the wreck gains publicity, additional claimants are likely to come forward. Deep Sea, 883 F.Supp. at 1354. The court further held that [t]he State's assertion that any abandoned personal property and uninsured cargo automatically becomes the property of the State is incorrect. Id. 41 The district court, thus, did not address the issue of whether, under the ASA, when claims were paid on only a fraction of a ship's cargo, an inference of abandonment arises with respect to the uninsured vessel and remaining cargo. This is a question of first impression. 42 The State would have us divide the wreck into the portion on which claims were paid (which would not be considered abandoned) and the portion that was uninsured (which would be considered abandoned). If we were to adopt this approach, we would have to dismiss the action in federal court with respect to the abandoned part of the wreck and retain jurisdiction over the part on which insurance claims were paid. 43 We decline to divide the wreck of the Brother Jonathan into abandoned and unabandoned portions for the purposes of the ASA for two reasons. First, if we were to find that the vessel had been partially abandoned, both the federal court and the state court would be adjudicating the fate of the Brother Jonathan. It is unlikely that Congress intended such a confusing and inefficient approach in adopting the ASA. 44 Second, such an approach is inconsistent with the general rule in maritime law of treating wrecks as a legally unified res. In fact, the Fourth Circuit's decision in Columbus-America appears to be the only admiralty case in which a wreck has not been treated as a unified whole. 974 F.2d at 465. There, the court held that a number of insurance companies retained title to parts of the wreck and remanded to the district court for a determination of how the wreck would be apportioned among them. Id. at 468. 45 Having concluded that the Brother Jonathan should be treated as a unified res, the question remains, should the wreck be considered abandoned (because the vessel and much of its cargo were not insured) or should the vessel be considered not to have been abandoned (because part of the cargo was insured)? Because the law is reluctant to find abandonment, see, e.g., Lady Elgin, 755 F.Supp. at 217, and because a finding of partial abandonment would deprive those holding title to the unabandoned portion of the wreck access to the federal forum, we hold that the Brother Jonathan was not abandoned. We reserve the question of whether there is some point at which the portion of the wreck that is insured becomes so negligible that the wreck might be considered abandoned for the purposes of the ASA.