Ask a Maritime Attorney - Page 20 of 66

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: Compelling a Release of Lien

August 27, 2020

Question: I bought a boat a few years ago and took over the loan payments from the previous owner. The deal was structured as a charter, where title remained in the seller’s name and I was required to make monthly rental...

Ask a Maritime Attorney: Tenant Protection Laws and Covid-19

July 16, 2020

Question: I have lived aboard a small motor yacht in a marina in Northern California for more than five years. During that time, I paid my rent on time and complied with all of the marina rules, but there have been excessive...

When a racing collision dispute leads to a lawsuit

September 23, 2016

Q: I am an active yacht racer in the Bay Area, and I was involved in a collision with another boat earlier this summer. The other boat hit us pretty hard, but they suffered only a small amount of damage to their bow pulpit...

Can I repossess a boat without a recorded preferred ship mortgage?

September 9, 2016

Q: I loaned $62,000 to a boat owner and required him to sign a security agreement in the form of a Preferred Ship Mortgage. The collateral is a 50-foot motor yacht that is documented with the Coast Guard and currently moored...

The ins and outs of marina evictions

August 26, 2016

Q: I live aboard my boat in a private marina in Northern California, and the owner has asked me to manage the day to day operations of the marina. My job duties include the collection of monthly slip rent, but after starting...