A/s D/s Svendborg and D/s Af 1912 A/s, as Owners of the M/v Margrethe Maersk v. Panama Canal Company

The Panama Canal Company (Company) brings this interlocutory appeal challenging the denial of its motion to dismiss. The Company contends that C.Z. Code tit. 2, § 296 requires that an administrative claim be presented to it prior to the commencement of suit against it. The district court held there is no such requirement. We affirm.

While under the control of a Company pilot, and while in a lock of the Canal, the M/Y MARGRETHE MAERSK was damaged. The shipowner immediately notified the Company, which sent a surveyor to inspect the damage. The next day the Board of Local Inspectors began an…