Question: I am in a contract to buy a Coast Guard documented boat. The sea trial and survey have been scheduled and my broker conducted a lien search to confirm clear title. The lien search was conducted through the Coast...
David Weil has been the proud author of the “Ask a Maritime Attorney” column in The Southern California Log Newspaper and Sea Magazine since 2006, with over 300 installments of the column. We have provided links in this section to those articles, covering a wide range of topics of interest to the California maritime and boating communities.
Ask a Maritime Attorney: I want my deposit back and the broker is refusing, what do I do?
April 21, 2022
Question: I recently made an offer on a 50-foot sailboat located in Florida. The boat was listed with a Canadian yacht broker and the seller lives in Michigan. The offer was submitted on a one-page purchase offer form...
Question: I was recently stopped by the Coast Guard after leaving a waterfront restaurant in my boat. I was given a sobriety test by a member of the Coast Guard crew, while others searched my boat from bow to stern while...
Ask a Maritime Attorney: The boat I was contracted to do work on is being foreclosed on but I haven’t been paid yet, what do I do?
March 24, 2022
Question: I am a boat mechanic and I have been working on a project to re-power a 70-foot motor yacht. The job is almost complete, but I just received notice that Federal Marshals have seized the boat on behalf of a bank to...
Question: Last year I completed a major structural repair to my boat after another boat crashed into us during a race. I am now preparing to sell the boat and I am wondering whether I need to disclose the collision and the...