## Facts

- Steuart Transportation Company owned the tank barge STC-101.
- An oil spill occurred in the Chesapeake Bay on February 2, 1976, allegedly killing approximately 30,000 migratory waterfowl.
- The Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States filed claims in Steuart’s admiralty limitation proceeding seeking, among other relief, money damages for the loss of migratory waterfowl.
- Steuart moved for summary judgment targeting only the governments’ wildlife-loss damages claims, arguing the governments lacked an ownership interest in the birds.
- The governments argued that recovery did not require ownership because their authority arose from sovereign duties to protect wildlife under the public trust doctrine and parens patriae.

## Issues

1. Whether Virginia and/or the United States may recover compensatory money damages for the loss of migratory waterfowl killed in the spill despite lacking traditional proprietary “ownership” of the birds.
2. Whether the public trust doctrine or parens patriae supplies a sufficient legal basis for compensatory damages for wildlife loss in this maritime tort context, absent specific statutory authorization.

## Decision

- The court granted Steuart’s motion for summary judgment as to the claims seeking compensatory money damages for loss of migratory waterfowl.
- The court held that neither Virginia nor the United States had a proprietary interest in the birds sufficient to support a property-damage claim.
- The court rejected public trust and parens patriae as bases for converting sovereign regulatory or representational authority into a compensable proprietary interest in wildlife.
- The court found no clear statutory authorization allowing the federal government to recover compensatory damages for migratory bird deaths on these facts and declined to create a new federal common-law cause of action.
- The ruling was limited to the wildlife-damages component; other asserted remedies (e.g., cleanup costs and statutory penalties) were not disposed of by this motion.

## Legal Principles

- Compensatory damages for loss of property generally require a cognizable proprietary interest in the property allegedly injured or destroyed.
- Post–state-ownership doctrine precedent treats governmental “ownership” of wild animals as a legal fiction insufficient, by itself, to support proprietary damages claims.
- The public trust doctrine primarily supports sovereign stewardship and regulatory or injunctive authority; it does not automatically create a monetizable ownership interest in wildlife for tort damages.
- Parens patriae may support a sovereign’s ability to sue to protect public welfare, but it does not itself create a property right in wildlife or a right to compensatory damages.
- Absent explicit statutory authorization, federal courts should not imply a broad governmental damages remedy for wildlife loss based solely on generalized sovereign interests.

## Conclusion

The court barred Virginia and the United States from recovering compensatory money damages for migratory bird deaths caused by the oil spill because the governments lacked a proprietary interest in the birds and neither public trust nor parens patriae supplied a damages remedy without clear statutory authorization.


In re Steuart Transportation Co., 495 F. Supp. 38 (E.D. Va. 1980)