A Rose is Still a Rose No Matter What You Choose to Call It: “Admiralty Action” for Salvage is Still a Claim for Salvage
Bynum v. Ingram Barge Co., (2023 WL 2733447; 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 7708 * (No. 22-20372, 5th Cir. Mar. 31, 2023, per curiam)
Bynum filed a claim in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas seeking a salvage award from Ingram Barge Co. The trial judge dismissed the claim as time barred and applied the 2-year statute of limitations for salvage awards. 46 U.S.C. § 80107(c) prescribes that an award for salvage must be brought within 2 years after the “aid or salvage services were given.”[1]
Bynum appealed arguing that the claim was “an admiralty action for salvage” and not a “civil action for salvage.”[2] This distinction did not hold water with the appellate panel which noted in the pithy per curiam opinion that the claimant “confuses jurisdiction with action.”[3] It is civil action filed within the court’s admiralty jurisdiction.[4] The claim is barred by the statute of limitations.
