Mitch | September 3, 2024 | Boating and Maritime
As is the practice with most maritime injury attorneys, Lattof & Lattof handles cases on a contingency basis. This means that our fees are based upon a percentage of whatever we recover for our clients. Therefore, the collection of the attorney fee is “contingent” on getting money for the client. If the client doesn’t get anything, neither do we! Usually, we’re paid in cash – U.S. dollars – but once back in the ‘70’s, our fee turned out very different. Here’s the story of the time Lattof & Lattof got paid with pirate treasure.
A Net Full of Silver
By the mid-1970’s, the attorneys with the Lattof & Lattof law firm had been representing maritime workers in the Mobile, Alabama area for over 20 years. Since we were well known in the maritime community, the local seamen, longshoremen, and shipyard workers regularly came to us for help. One day in 1975, three crewmembers from the Bayou la Batre shrimp boat, MISS KRISTY, showed up in our offices. They had an amazing story to tell.
The MISS KRISTY had been shrimping off of the Louisiana coast when they got a call for assistance from another Bayou la Batre shrimper, the DEBORAH ANN. This other vessel had been retrieving its net when they had a malfunction with their retrieval equipment. They asked the MISS KRISTY to come over and help pick up their net so that it wouldn’t be lost. When the MISS KRISTY pulled up alongside, the first thing its crew noticed was a large pile of coins on the DEBORAH ANN’s deck. We’re talking about thousands of large coins glistening in the sun (Almost 4,000 as it turns out). Seeing this, the MISS KRISTY’s captain immediately suspected that the other boat had caught a netful of coins and had another trove of coins still in the water. At that point, the captain refused to assist in retrieving the net unless the DEBORAH ANN’s captain agreed to give the net’s contents to the MISS KRISTY. Reluctantly the other captain finally agreed.
When the MISS KRISTY got the net up, it contained almost 800 old coins. The coins were all silver Spanish coins, minted in Mexico, and dated from the late 18th century. Most of them contained the picture of King Carolus III, who had become King of Spain around 1759. These are the type of coins commonly referred to as “pieces of eight”. The Spanish called them reales. [Note: The toy pirate coins sold adjacent to the Disneyworld attraction “Pirates of the Caribbean” are identical to these King Carolus coins.]
Spanish Treasure Ships in the New World
By the late 18th century, Spain had been transporting gold and silver coins from the New World for some 200 years. Gold and silver would be minted into coins in Mexico and transported to the port of Veracruz on the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. From there, Spanish treasure ships would travel to Havana to wait and gather in preparation for the trip across the Atlantic to Spain. Once enough treasure ships had gathered and the weather was right, the convoy would leave Havana under heavy guard by Spanish warships.
The route from Veracruz to Havana was less heavily guarded than the route from Havana to Spain. This made the initial leg of the journey particularly vulnerable to pirate attacks, where treasure or even entire treasure ships could be seized. Clearly, the coins caught by these shrimpers came from either a treasure ship blown off course or a sunken pirate ship that had seized the treasure. Since the location of the coins was some 600 miles off of the normal course from Veracruz to Havana, it’s more probable that this was pirate treasure, possibly destined for a hideout in the Louisiana swamps.
Salvage Claims in Federal Court
Now, back to the story – The three shrimpers had come to Lattof & Lattof asking us to help them establish their salvage rights to a portion of the “catch”. Maritime salvage laws are extremely complicated and this was the perfect example. There were numerous competing claims, between the owners of each vessel, the crewmembers of each vessel, and the State of Louisiana. [Note: In more recent years, Spain has begun making claim to Spanish treasure salvaged from sunken ships in the US – and actually had some success in court. Spain made no claim in this case.] Under maritime law, salvage awards are made to each person and entity involved based on factors, which include how much each contributed to the salvage effort. The case ended up in U.S. Federal Court in Mobile, Alabama with multiple parties and multiple law firms involved. The Court eventually dismissed the State of Louisiana when evidence showed that the coins were not found in Louisiana waters.
Division of the Spoils And A Unique Attorney Fee
The parties reached a last minute settlement agreement just before the trial was to begin. The salvaged coins were divided in various proportions among the owners and crewmembers of the 2 shrimp boats. Lattof & Lattof had agreed to handle the case for our 3 shrimper-clients on a 1/3 contingent fee. Those crewmembers received 324 coins as their share, so Lattof & Lattof received 108 coins as our fee. As of today, that’s truly the most unique and interesting fee that we’ve ever received.
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Contact Our Maritime Injury Attorneys For All of Your Pirate Treasure Claims
Since 1952, attorneys with the Lattof & Lattof law firm have been helping victims of all types of injury claims, accident claims, and even pirate treasure claims. It would be our pleasure to review your case with you and discuss your rights, remedies and options. Our goal is to equip you with the facts that you need to make an informed decision on whether or not to hire a lawyer. Get in touch with us now for a FREE consultation, either by calling our office at (251) 432-6691 or filling out an online request form [link]. We’d be delighted to represent you and your loved ones and help you to obtain the compensation you deserve.