• Home
  • U.S. Supreme Court
    • US Supreme Court Briefs
  • News
    • Financial
    • Riviera Beach
    • North Bay Village
    • Palm Beach Sun
  • Videos
  • Gallery
  • Awards
    • The First Amendment Foundation Announces Winners of its 2017 Sunshine Awards
    • Four Time Winner – New Times Broward/Palm Beach “Best Of”
  • About Fane Lozman
  • Contact



USA Today: High Court: Not every floating home is a boat.

January 26, 2013
by Staff
Comments are off
USA Today The U.S. Supreme Court sided with a former stock trader Tuesday, ruling that a Florida city wrongly took and destroyed his floating home, calling it a boat. The 7-2 decision ends a long legal battle between Fane Lozman, an ex-Marine, and the city of Riviera Beach, Fla. over a 60-foot, two-story floating home that was seized by armed federal agents in 2009. The agents were brought in following a rent dispute, when the city said the structure was actually a boat and subject to maritime law. The U.S. District Court agreed. But in Tuesday's decision, the Supreme Court reversed that decision, allowing Lozman to return to the court and seek damages for his home being destroyed. "I feel like I've levitated and am floating on a cloud," Lozman says. "It's too late to save my floating home, but I fought this battle for other floating home owners around the country." In its opinion, the Supreme Court ruled that just because a structure or object floats, it's not necessarily a vessel. Instead, the test of whether a structure is a boat or a fixed structure hinges on whether "a reasonable observer, looking to the [craft]'s physical characteristics and activities, would not consider it to be designed to any practical degree for carrying people or things on water," according to the decision. The Supreme Court's decision finally sets the record straight, across the country, on what is a boat and what's a structure, says Jeffrey Fisher, law professor at Stanford Law School and member of Lozman's legal team. Most of the jurisdictions with floating homes were clear that these were not boats, but the Supreme Court removes any doubt, he says. "It's a total victory. The case is over. We win." Some worry, though, that the Supreme Court didn't create a "bright line" that clearly defines what's a boat and what's a floating structure, says Martin Davies, professor of law at Tulane University. The court found the owner's "intent" doesn't determine if it's a boat or structure, but whether an observer looking at the object would see it as a boat or a structure, he says. That might be fine for floating homes like Lozman's, which don't look like boats and don't have engines or steering, but it opens problems with moored objects that look like boats, as some river casinos do, Davies says. "This is a test begging to be litigated," he says. "This will produce more litigation." "We're gratified the court rejected Mr. Lozman's argument that the vessel owner's subjective intent determines the status of the watercraft as a vessel. For marina operators, the message is clear: When in doubt, keep it out," wrote David Frederick, attorney representing Riviera Beach, Fla., in an e-mailed response. But for Lozman, the ruling gives him the ability to think about what's next. He plans to return to District Court and ask for compensation for his home, furniture and legal fees, which he said reached the hundreds of thousands of dollars. "I'm going to get another one (floating home) and put it back," he says.
About the Author
Social Share
  • google-share

Recent News

Make Riviera Beach buy my mostly submerged land
Fane Lozman to court: Make Riviera Beach buy my mostly submerged land
March 14, 2022 2:48 pm
fane lozman lake worth lagoon law suit
Lawsuit settlement lets Fane Lozman keep floating home in Intracoastal Waterway, at least for now
December 31, 2021 10:25 am
fane lozman lake worth lagoon law suit
Palm Beach County man being sued by Department of Justice
July 1, 2021 9:26 am
Fane Lozman wins supreme cort case
After 2 Supreme Court wins, Florida man gets $875K from city
February 12, 2020 8:07 pm

The Fane Lozman Story

Fane Lozman Activists - Supreme Court Case

This is a true story of a persistent and tenacious underdog who fought against the governmental seizure of 2200 homes and businesses in 2006 only to see that same government arrest and destroy his floating home three years later, for an alleged failure to pay one month’s rent at the marina. Fane Lozman did not give up but continued the improbable climb from a county court eviction case to the US Supreme Court.

Learn more.

Video of the Day

Honors and Awards

Voted not once, not twice, but three times as “Best Of” by the New Times Broward/Palm Beach.

  • 2012 Best Lawsuit- Fane Lozman vs. the City of Riviera Beach, Florida
  • 2007 – Best Political Activist
  • 2007 – Personal Best

Fane Lozman’s SCANSHIFT

SCANSHIFT™ is a revolutionary patented quote display system that allows the user to absorb market information and changing market conditions with a degree of mental and visual efficiency never before available.

Read more.

Copyright © 2018 to 2021 Fane Lozman.