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How to Determine the Priority of Rights to Salvage   

https://zalma.com/blog

One case involved a dispute among three groups of divers for the right  to salvage silver from the cargo of a ship sunk and for the title to  whatever silver is recovered. In resolving the problem, the court  considered the common law of finds that treats property that is  abandoned as returned to the state of nature and thus equivalent to  property, such as fish or ocean plants, with no prior owner.  The first person to reduce such property to \\u201cpossession,\\u201d either actual  or constructive, becomes its owner. [R. Brown, The Law of Personal  Property 15 (2d ed. 1955) as cited in Hener v. United States, 525 F.  Supp. 350 (S.D.N.Y. 10/15/1981).] A mere \\u201csearcher\\u201d has no rights in  abandoned property even if he succeeds in locating it; in particular, he  has no right to exclude others from the attempt to recover it. Any  competing searcher is entitled to enter the area where the abandoned  property is and to seek to reduce it to his possession, as long as he or  she acts without infringing on the concurrent rights of other  searchers.  The opinion in Eads v. Brazelton, 22 Ark. 499 (1861) comprehensively  sets out the law of finds. It refers to, and relies on, a broad range of  authorities for its conclusions, and its premise that a finding  requires both intent and some form of possession remains accurate. In  Eads, for example, had Brazelton placed his boat over the wreck with the  means to raise its valuables, and had he persisted in \\u201cefforts directed  to raising the lead,\\u201d his conduct would have constituted \\u201cthe only  effectual guard over it\\u201d and thus a judicially recognizable warning that  other \\u201clonging occupants\\u201d would have been obliged to regard.  \\xa9 2021 \\u2013 Barry Zalma  Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to service as an  insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance  claims handling, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost  equally for insurers and policyholders. He also serves as an arbitrator  or mediator for insurance related disputes. He practiced law in  California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims  handling lawyer and more than 52 years in the insurance business. He is  available at http://www.zalma.com and zalma@zalma.com.  Mr. Zalma is the first recipient of the first annual Claims Magazine/ACE  Legend Award.  Over the last 53 years Barry Zalma has dedicated his life to insurance,  insurance claims and the need to defeat insurance fraud. He has created  the following library of books and other materials to make it possible  for insurers and their claims staff to become insurance claims  professionals.  Go to the podcast Zalma On Insurance at https://anchor.fm/barry-zalma;  Follow Mr. Zalma on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library \\u2013 https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/ Read posts from Barry Zalma at https://parler.com/profile/Zalma/posts; and the last two issues of ZIFL at https://zalma.com/zalmas-insurance-fraud-letter-2/