(CN) - A marine explorer who improperly claimed a $600-million treasure from a sunken Spanish warship must pay $1 million in fees and costs to Spain, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday in Tampa, Fla. entered the judgment in the 6-year long litigation Wednesday, finding that the company had acted in bad faith and had prolonged the dispute unnecessarily.
In 2007, Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration, a world leader in deep ocean exploration and recovery, discovered 595,000 coins, 17 cannons and a number of other small artifacts on the seabed about 100 miles west of the Straights of Gibraltar.
Odyssey claimed that the 17-ton treasure, estimated at $600 million, could not be traced back to any particular ship, despite knowing that it was most likely exploring the shipwreck site of a Spanish Royal Navy frigate, according to court filings.
Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes sank in 1804 en route from Peru to Cadiz, Spain after being attacked by the British Royal Navy in what was later called the Battle of Cape Saint Mary.
Odyssey dubbed its 2007 discovery the Black Swan, and asked the federal court in Tampa, Fla., for custody of the recovered artifacts.
But Spain claimed the treasure Odyssey found was from the Spanish warship Mercedes, and asked the court to dismiss Odyssey's action and order it to return the salvaged cargo.
It argued Odyssey's claim was barred under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), which provides that Spain's property is subject to sovereign immunity from all claims or arrest in the United States.
The federal court in December 2009 ordered Odyssey to return the treasure to Spain under the United States' 1902 Treaty of Friendship with the nation.
The 11th Circuit affirmed in 2011, agreeing that Odyssey had improperly seized the treasure from the Mercedes.
After successfully contesting Odyssey's claim, Spain asked for reimbursement of attorney's fees and costs. It claimed that Odyssey had known from the beginning that the wrecked vessel was Mercedes, but it nevertheless denied the existence and the identity of the ship and withheld evidence that could have established its identity.
Odyssey continued to resist federal and magistrate judges' orders even after it lost its bid to the treasure, Spain claimed in its motion.
A magistrate judge had awarded Spain $158,102 in legal fees, but had denied its request for costs, finding that it lacked precision.
But Merryday disagreed with part of the decision, and upped the award to $1,072,979.
"This action presented from the outset not merely the dicey prospects of a damages action; this action presented a claim to ownership by a party holding-in-hand an enormous, historic trove of treasure, holding-in-hand riches 'beyond the dreams of avarice,'" Merryday wrote in the Sept. 25 order. "A contest for $600 million - winner take all - is plenty sufficient to endanger any boundary, to awaken any frailty, and to excite any temptation."
The judge noted that Odyssey's conduct from the outset warranted sanctions, because the company had recovered the treasure and removed it to central Florida without authorization.
Odyssey had asked Spain for permission to explore the sector of the ocean where the treasure was found, and went ahead even after Spain declined to participate or authorize exploration, according to the order.
