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Harry Zych, Doing Business as American Diving and Salvage Company v. Unidentified, Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel, Believed to be the “Seabird,” Which Sank in 1868, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and Illinois Department of Transportation

19 F.3d 1136 (1994)

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Harry Zych, Doing Business as American Diving and Salvage Company v. Unidentified, Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel, Believed to be the “Seabird,” Which Sank in 1868, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, and Illinois Department of Transportation

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
19 F.3d 1136 (1994)

KL

Facts

Harry Zych (plaintiff), who owned American Diving and Salvage Company, located a wrecked ship in Lake Michigan while on a dive in 1989. The ship, called the Seabird, had sunk in 1868 after it caught on fire while making a trip across Lake Michigan from Wisconsin to Illinois. Zych initially filed a lawsuit to declare ownership over the Seabird; however, the district court held that because the ship was embedded in soil owned by Illinois, the state, and not Zych, owned the shipwreck under the Abandoned Shipwreck Act. Zych conceded that Illinois owned the shipwreck and appealed on the basis that the Abandoned Shipwreck Act was unconstitutional because it declared that the federal law of salvage did not apply to abandoned shipwrecks.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Bauer, J.)

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