Northwest Marine Works v. United States

DUNIWAY, Circuit Judge.

In this case, the United States, by means of stipulations to which appellants were not parties, has kept a ship operating for a long time and at a considerable loss, purportedly under the authority of orders of the court in an action to foreclose a ship mortgage. The result, if the judgment below is permitted to stand, is to freeze out appellants, who held valid maritime liens upon the vessel when the foreclosure libel was filed. It may have been in the public interest to keep the ship operating. Congress has provided a means of doing so, under which the rights of…