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SOS! SOS! One ocean exploration company missing
By SCOTT BARANCIK
Published February 13, 2006
Imagine having this conversation with your lawyer.
Lawyer: Great news! The judge awarded you $121-million!
Client: Yee-haw! When can we collect?
Lawyer: Not sure.
Client: How come?
Lawyer: The defendant may not exist.
Lawyer Carl F. Muller faced a similar scenario last month.
His clients, four South Carolina scientists, filed suit over the S.S. Republic in 2004. They claim confidential research provided to one Tampa company, Seahawk Deep Sea Technologies, was illegally used by another, Odyssey Marine Exploration, to locate the valuable shipwreck.
Odyssey calls the suit baseless and continues to fight it. But Seahawk never responded, and in January the court issued a default judgment against it for $121-million.
Does Seahawk exist? Odyssey says no. Muller says it has "gone into hiding."
Sometimes it's harder to pinpoint a Florida corporation than a sunken ship.
[Last modified February 13, 2006, 00:45:19]
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