Someone posted the following on the Yahoo forum. The parts I liked are in bold letters.
Ahoy mates:
I had the good fortune to attend oral arguments in Atlanta this morning. Thought I would summarize my impressions for the group, but please note that I couldn't have any electronics devices in court so couldn't transcribe the hearing contemporaneously; therefore it is possible this report may contain omissions or errors (and it certainly contains my subjective views). Moreover, when I "quote" a judge's comments, I am paraphrasing to the best of my recollection.
The panel was Hull, Black, and Stapleton (Stapleton was visiting judge from 3rd Circuit). I was glad to see Judge Black on the panel because she is the author of Aqua Log, an 11th Circuit case that came out after the district court ruled here, and one that is the focal point of OMEX's briefs.
All three judges were very attentive and engaged. While they had clarifying questions to ask of all parties, they seemed much more skeptical of Spain's position than OMEX's, and I came away with the distinct impression that OMEX is likely to prevail. Judge Hull asked pointed questions of Spain, positing hypotheticals such as "assume we find clear error in that the ship was on a commercial voyage, not a military mission as found below, doesn't that kill your (Spain)'s case?" (paraphrase, not quote). Spain counsel tried to dance around the issues and divert, frustrating the panel, with Judge Hull commenting "you're very good at avoiding my questions" at one point. More significantly (I thought), Judge Stapleton, towards the end of Spain's presentation, said "I just have to ask about the elephant in the room here. The district court said it lacked jurisdiction yet nonetheless assumed jurisdiction by awarding the res to Spain. Why isn't that error?" To this Spain tried in vain to appease the panel (IMO) --- the panel seemed (to me) convinced that the proper course would have been to restore the status quo --- the district court, if it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, certainly lacked jurisdiction to award the res to Spain. OMEX did not face similar antagonism/hostility in the questions posited to it, in my view.
There were other arguments made (including smaller amounts of time allocated to Peru and some individual claimants), and in my view OMEX got the better of these as well. I noticed some folks in the gallery (btw, the gallery was packed, I would estimate 100 spectators including 2 sailors from the Spanish navy donning official uniforms!) who were apparently with OMEX seemed quite happy with how the hearing went.
I may be able to expand more later -- arguments lasted over an hour I believe -- but I have to catch a train and head back home for now. I wanted to just give the group my take on the arguments before I have to take off.
In summary, I thought it went very well for OMEX, and I have added OMEX shares upon reflecting on how it all went. I think it's difficult to read the tea leaves in arguments like these, but I'm glad I went and feel OMEX did a very good job, and was well received by the judges. I did not hear the judges give any indication of when a ruling would issue, but hopefully we don't have to wait long.
Toodles,
Bruce
Odyssey worked their butts off, spent a small fortune and found what they were looking for. I was brought up to understand that a person that did a days job was suppose to get a days wages. As I see it, that is exactly what Odyssey did and before I hear about all the money they could get for the coins and it is more then a wage earner normally gets? Guess what, the crew got paid and the owners are entitled to what is left, just like any other Big Company.
