Barnes v. Sea Hawaii Rafting, LLC — Washington application
Docket: 16-15023 · Filed: March 28, 2018 · Amended: April 19, 2018.
Holding and scope
After an injured seaman sued in admiralty, the bankruptcy trustee sold the vessel purportedly free of his lien. The Ninth Circuit held the lien survived: the admiralty court already controlled the vessel, the lienor did not consent, and bankruptcy rather than admiralty law was applied. It reversed dismissal, denied mootness and separately directed a maintenance award by mandamus. Complete official amended opinion.
Limits and currentness
Pages 26–28 explain survival into bona fide purchasers’ hands, but expressly
leave broader bankruptcy-court power open and distinguish voluntary submission
under admiralty principles. This is not a blanket invalidation of every bankruptcy
sale or a holding construing Washington’s marina statutes. The opinion arose in
Hawaii; this page records its Ninth Circuit overlay for Washington only.
Comprehensive later treatment remains needs_verification; no automatic
good-law certification is made. The actual amended body, not the staff summary,
was read.
Current § 31326 separately addresses qualifying district-court in-rem sale effects. Full § 31326, unofficial Cornell reproduction.
Verified later proceedings
The official September 22, 2021 consolidated memorandum, led by No. 18-17154, again applies the 2018 decision’s exclusive district-court in-rem jurisdiction over the vessel and resulting proceeds. It separately rejects treating the Hawaii commercial-use permit as an automatically transferable appurtenance. The appeal from vacatur/remand of the bankruptcy sale approval was dismissed as nonfinal, not a merits affirmance of that sale. The memorandum is not for publication and is not precedent except under Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. This is specific verified later application, not a comprehensive citator result or a new Washington permit rule. Full official 2021 memorandum, pp. 7–12.
Applies in →
Legal information, not legal advice. Verify current law and subsequent treatment before relying on this decision.