By the Numbers

$43 million – Amount of treasure at issue in legal battle between the United Kingdom and South Africa

The U.K.’s Supreme Court ruled in May that South Africa was entitled to silver treasure worth $43 million.

The silver was salvaged from the S.S. Tilawa, a British ocean liner. A Japanese submarine sunk the Tilawa in the Indian Ocean in 1942.

The Tilawa was carrying 2,364 bars of silver bullion, which the government of India, then a British colony, had sold to the South African mint.

In 2017, Argentum Exploration, a British company, salvaged the silver from the wreck of Tilawa and made a claim on the treasure.

Under maritime law, a voluntary salvager can make a claim on treasure, even if another entity owns the treasure.

The U.K.’s high court ruled that the silver was neither in use nor intended for use in commerce, and South Africa was therefore immune to Argentum Exploration’s claim.

Source: maritime-executive.com

Out There

Let Slip the Dogs of War

A dispute over a champion show dog is going back to a state trial court.

Besty Shauck is the breeder of Oscar, an Italian mastiff. Dave Jennings and Emily McLeod, who raised Oscar since he was a puppy, claim Shauck gave them the dog as a gift.

Jennings and McLeod orally agreed to allow Shauck to show Oscar, which she did beginning in 2018. Oscar won the first show that Shauck entered him in, and he kept on winning.

But Jennings and McLeod said Oscar didn’t do well on the road, so Jennings took Oscar back.

Jennings and McLeod sued in 2019, asking a trial court to declare that they were Oscar’s rightful owners. Shauck then sought a temporary injunction and asked the court to order the couple to give Oscar back to her.

The trial court awarded Oscar to Shauck.

But the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in May that the district court improperly reached the merits of the case instead of ruling on the temporary injunction only and remanded the case.

Source: kansasreflector.com, kshb.com

Did You Know?

Amateur No More

In May, the NCAA and the nation’s five biggest college athletic conferences announced a $2.8 billion settlement of an antitrust lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed by current and former college athletes. They claim that former rules on college athlete compensation prevented them from earning money on endorsement and sponsorship deals beginning in 2016.

Under the terms of the settlement, the NCAA and the five conferences will pay $2.77 billion over 10 years to about 14,000 current and former college athletes.

The settlement is likely to lead to a new revenue-sharing model – one that could put big bucks in the pockets of college athletes as soon as this fall.

Federal judges overseeing the case must still sign off on the settlement. Plaintiffs may opt out of the settlement or challenge its terms.

Source: AP

Quotable

“For 155 years, we have closed our beach on Sunday morning to honor God.” – Statement from Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association

On Memorial Day weekend, for the first time since Ulysses S. Grant was president, people strolled along the beaches in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group, founded a Christian retreat at the Jersey Shore in 1869. Since that time, the association has closed its beaches on Sunday in honor of the Sabbath.

But earlier this year, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said the closures violated state beach access laws. The department threatened to assess fines of $25,000 per day.

The association filed for a temporary injunction, which a court refused to grant, so the association decided to open the beaches while it continues the legal fight.

“We are challenging this order to preserve our property rights and religious freedom,” the association said in a statement.

Source: AP

Out There

Mi Taco is Su Sandwich

An Indiana judge in May ended a five-year zoning fight by concluding that a taco is a sandwich.

In 2019, Martin Quintana, the owner of Famous Taco in Fort Wayne, Ind., applied to the local planning commission to open a second location.

To obtain the commission’s approval for the new location, Quintana promised that the second restaurant would sell “made-to-order” or “Subway-style” sandwiches.

A local neighborhood association opposed the new location. Quintana proposed an amendment that would allow him to serve Mexican-style food at the new location, but the plan commission denied the amendment.

Allen County Superior Court Judge Craig Bobay ruled that Quintana’s second location met the commitments Quintana had made when seeking approval for it.

“Tacos and burritos are Mexican-style sandwiches,” Bobay wrote in his ruling.

Source: Food & Wine, AP