[Archport] Empresa de caça ao tesouro perde processo contra a Espanha

[Alexandre Monteiro <no.arame@gmail.com>]

O menino Jesus trouxe-nos a todos uma boa prenda: a empresa de caça ao tesouro Odyssey perdeu no tribunal da relação de Tampa o caso que a opunha ao Reino de Espanha, relativo ao saque feito no naufrágio da fragata N. S. de las Mercedes, afundada pelos ingleses - dentro da zona contígua de Portugal - ao largo do cabo de Santa Maria, em 1804.

Agora vai ter que devolver as mais de 17 toneladas em moedas de ouro e prata que roubou à jazida arqueológica.

"Odyssey Marine Loses Bid for ‘Black Swan’ Against Spanish Claim

BUSINESSWEEK, December 23, 2009


By Thom Weidlich

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. judge ruled that property Odyssey Marine
Exploration Inc. recovered from a sunken ship codenamed “Black Swan”
must be returned to Spain.

U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday in Tampa, Florida, adopted the
recommendation of a magistrate judge that backed Spain’s position
concerning the treasure from the ship, whose full name is Nuestra
Senora de las Mercedes. Merryday said Odyssey could maintain the
property while it pursues any appeal.

“The ineffable truth of this case is that the Mercedes is a naval
vessel of Spain and that the wreck of this naval vessel, the vessel’s
cargo and any human remains are the natural and legal patrimony of
Spain,” Merryday wrote in an order yesterday.

Odyssey, which searches for sunken treasure, said in May 2007 it
recovered more than 17 tons (15,422 kilograms) of silver coins from
the ship, which went down in the Atlantic Ocean off the Strait of
Gibraltar. Spain contested the company’s claim to the wreck.

Spain claims the ship is “a Spanish frigate that exploded in a pivotal
1804 engagement with the British and precipitated Spain’s declaration
of war against Britain,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizzo wrote in
his report on June 4.

Liz Shows, a spokeswoman for Tampa-based Odyssey, didn’t immediately
respond to an e-mail seeking comment sent before Florida business
hours today.

Pizzo agreed with Spain that the U.S. lacks jurisdiction over the case
and recommended that Merryday drop it and order the property returned
to Spain. None of the exceptions Odyssey offered to a federal law
applied, he said. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act grants immunity
to a foreign state’s property in the U.S. from being taken.

Merryday also adopted Pizzo’s finding that the U.S. can’t decide
Peru’s claim against Spain to some of the treasure. Peru wasn’t an
independent nation at the time of the wreck.

Odyssey fell 3 cents to $1.49 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading
yesterday. The shares fell 54 percent this year.

The case is Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. v. The Unidentified
Shipwrecked Vessel, 07-cv-614, U.S. District Court, Middle District of
Florida (Tampa)".





que pode ser lido na integra aqui:


http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv00614/197978/270/