Odyssey Marine loses ruling in Black Swan case

On 24/12/2009
In Illegal Recoveries
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From Tampa Bay Business Journal

A U.S. District Judge has adopted the Magistrate’s Report and Recommendation in the “Black Swan” case in favor of Spain.

The Judge also stayed the order vacating the arrest warrant and the return of the recovered coins to Spain until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rules in the case, which serves to keep the coins in Odyssey’s possession pending the outcome of the case.

In a release, the company said the ruling Dec. 22 does not impact its operations.

“We have not been counting on any revenue from the “Black Swan” in any of our budgets since it was clear that this case would go to appeal no matter which way the judge ruled,” said Greg Stemm, Odyssey chief executive officer, in the prepared statement. “We are moving ahead with our other current projects,” he said, adding in its press release on the ruling allows the company to state that “that the vast majority of our shipwreck projects don’t have the same potential legal issues that have surfaced” in this case.

The company (NasdaqCM: OMEX) is engaged in the exploration of deep-ocean shipwrecks and uses technology to conduct search and archaeological recovery operations worldwide.

“Our focus for 2010 is on projects that are either under specific permits with governments or commercial vessels,” Stemm said in the release.

The company said it believes Merryday’s ruling serves to move the case to the appellate court faster, a venue where it believes the legal issues are in its favor.