Fane Lozman, shown here in Miami Beach last March, says he will look for "monetary compensation" after the Supreme Court ruled in his favor.
Lozman represented himself in court, arguing that the floating home was not a vessel and rebutting the city's claim that he owed docking and trespass fees. But a federal judge ruled against him, declared the structure a vessel, and ordered him to pay roughly $3,000 in docking fees. After a federal appeals court agreed, Lozman's floating home was put up for public auction and the city bought it.
"The city of Riviera Beach went to the auction, outbid the public that attended, purchased my home, and then the next day immediately started destroying it, along with my furniture, at taxpayer's expense," Lozman says.
He appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, represented by the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Clinic. On Tuesday the high court, by a 7-to-2 vote, said the city had no right to a lien against Lozman's floating home under federal maritime law because the structure is not a vessel.
Writing for the court majority, Justice Stephen Breyer noted, "not every floating structure is a vessel."
"To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons ... or Pinocchio (when inside the whale)," none of these are vessels, Breyer said, even though "they are 'artificial contrivances' capable of floating, moving under tow, and incidentally carrying even a fair-sized item or two when they do so."
Still, said Breyer, none of these is a vessel under federal maritime law because none is "used as a means of transportation." Similarly, he said, no reasonable observer looking at Lozman's floating home "would consider it designed to a practical degree for carrying people or things over water."
Dissenting were Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Anthony Kennedy.
In a written statement, the city of Riviera Beach said it would soon clarify its marina rules to comply with the Supreme Court decision. The statement said the city would reimburse Lozman $300 for his filing fee and printing costs in the Supreme Court . But that may be little more than wishful thinking.
Within hours of the Supreme Court decision, Lozman made clear he intends to seek a lot more than $300. He maintains that he put $50,000 into his floating home altogether: "A determination will have to be made — what was the value of my floating home, and my attorney's fees, and I'm going to look for monetary compensation."
Right now, he says, he lives part time on land and part time on a houseboat in Miami. "Once you live on a floating home, it gets in your blood," he says.
And would he think of having his new floating home towed to Riviera Beach?
"Yeah, I am seriously considering doing that, " he replies.
So, stay tuned.