6 | August 6 - August 19, 2021 | THE LOG
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LEGAL ADVICE
ask a maritime attorney
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By David Weil
California’s Boating and Fishing News
I filed a lien against a yacht for unpaid wages, what next?
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QUESTION:
I would like some legal advice for how to enforce a maritime lien. I am a former crew member of a large American yacht that failed to pay me when I left the boat over two months ago. I recorded a maritime lien against the vessel through an online service but my claim remains unpaid. What are the next steps for collecting my unpaid wages after recording the lien?
David Weil is the managing attorney at Weil & Associates (www.weilmaritime.com) in Seal Beach. He is certified as a Specialist in Admiralty and Maritime Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and a “Proctor in Admiralty” Member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, an adjunct professor of Admiralty Law, and former legal counsel to the California Yacht Brokers Association. If you have a maritime law question for Weil, he can be contacted at 562-799-5508, through his website at www.weilmaritime.com, or via email at dweil@weilmaritime.com.
ANSWER: This question is a bit more complicated than our reader might expect. Consider the following. First, as we have discussed many times in this column, foreclosing on a maritime lien is extremely expensive, and the cost may easily exceed the amount of our reader’s claim against the vessel. The foreclosure process requires the filing of a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the judicial district where the vessel is located, seeking a warrant for the “civil arrest” of the vessel by the US Marshals. The Marshals require a deposit of $5,000 to $20,000 depending on the type of boat and the rules of that particular district. After the arrest, the Marshals will transfer custody of the vessel to a comPlease see ATTORNEY, PAGE 11
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