94 F. 1011 | 8th Cir. | 1899
(after stating tlie facts as above, delivered the opinion of (he court.
The questions presented in this case turn upon tlie legal effect of the discharge of the engine, boilers, and machinery upon the appraisal and bond on March 10, 1897. If that discharge released this property from the maritime liens of those who had not then tiled their libels in the court below, the decrees were erroneous; but if it left these liens unimpaired, and discharged the property from the liens of those who were then, parties to the proceedings only, they were right. The theory of the appellants is that the bond of March 4, 1897, became a substitute for the engine, boilers, and machinery as to all who claimed maritime liens upon this property, whether they had presented their liens in the court below or not when the bond was given and the machinery was released. Upon-this theory they insist Urn i tlie court erred in refusing to include the Int.er-Oc.ean Coal & Coke Company, or its assignee, and the Hawgood & Avery Transit Company, among the distributees of the proceeds of that bond, although neither of them had filed any libel against, or pleaded any lien upon the machinery or the vessel when this bond was given, and they contend that tie seizure of the machinery under the subsequent libel of tin1 coal and coke company and the decree that the wrecking company and the sureties on its bond shall pay the claim of that company are erroneous, because, as they say, the machinery was discharged of all maritime liens by the substitution of the earlier bond in its place on March 10, 1897. When a ship which lias been arrested under a libel is released upon an appraisal and a deposit, or a bond, or a stipulation, not given under the limited liability act, the deposit or bond or stipulation is substituted for tlie vessel as to all those who have then filed their libels and become parties to the proceeding, but as to no other parties. The proceeds of the deposit, bond, or stipulation inure to the benefit of those who were parties to tlie proceeding when the release was made. But they inure to the benefit of no others. The vessel is discharged from the liens of these parties, and from their liens only. Lienholders who have not filed their libels, and have not become parties to the proceeding when the ship is discharged, may not be permitted to share in the