Can I record a maritime lien against the boat to secure my attorneys’ fee claim?

Founded

QUESTION:

I am in litigation over the sale of my boat last year. The buyer sued me, as well as my yacht broker and his own broker. This is clearly a frivolous lawsuit, and it looks like we will be on the winning side. My question concerns the recovery of my attorneys’ fees at the end of the lawsuit. The purchase and sale agreement for the boat includes a provision that awards attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party, and I would like to record a maritime lien against the boat to secure payment. My attorney is skeptical about this, but he is not a maritime attorney. Since the attorneys’ fee claim will be related to the dispute over the sale of the boat, it seems like I should be able to assert the lien. What are the rules for this? Can I record a maritime lien against the boat to secure my attorneys’ fee claim?

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 562799-5508, through his website at www.weilmaritime.com, or via email at dweil@weilmaritime.com.

ANSWER: Our reader is putting the cart before the horse here (or maybe the barge before the tugboat?). His question concerns the possible assertion of a maritime lien to support a claim for recovery of attorneys’ fees, but the lawsuit is still ongoing. Slow down. Litigation often takes a few unexpected turns before the judge makes his or her final ruling. Even so, we can take a look at his question by assuming that he will in fact win the lawsuit. Hopefully we won’t jinx anything in the process!

Let’s jump right in and get right to the answer of our reader’s question. The bottom line is that his attorney is correct. He won’t have a lien aganst the boat for attorneys’ fees, even if he wins the lawsuit.

A lien is a financial security device that provides collateral to secure payment of an

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