Lien Without Liability

In Trailer Bridge, Inc. v. Louisiana International Marine, L.L.C., the Fifth Circuit affirmed a maritime-lien judgment in favor of a tugboat owner for unpaid towing invoices, but also affirmed the district court’s refusal to award attorney’s fees to the prevailing claimant. The court explained that under traditional admiralty principles a maritime lien creates an in rem right against the vessel without, on its own, generating a separate basis of in personam liability against the vessel’s owner. Absent that separate substantive basis, the in personam defendant “is generally not liable to the plaintiff merely because a maritime lien has come into existence.” No. 25-30331 (June 17, 2026).