United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ____________ United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

No. 24-20399 FILED May 22, 2025 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce John Bludworth Shipyard, L.L.C., Clerk

Plaintiff—Appellant,

versus Captain Frank Bechtolt, Official No. 656965, Her Equipment, Appurtenances, Tackle, Etc., In Rem, also known as The Dredge,

Defendant, Manson Construction Company; Caillou Island Towing Company, Incorporated,

Claimants—Appellees. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:22-CV-3540 ______________________________ Before Elrod, Chief Judge, and Higginbotham and Southwick, Circuit Judges. Leslie H. Southwick, Circuit Judge: A shipyard that combined three barges — and made significant changes to the functions of two — asserted maritime liens on each of them. The district court had to interpret the federal statute that provides for a Case: 24-20399 Document: 100-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/22/2025

No. 24-20399

maritime lien when “necessaries” are provided to a vessel. The court’s interpretation was that the work had to provide necessaries towards the original function of a vessel, and this work was not that. Our own interpretation is that the new function must be the focus. We therefore VACATE and REMAND in part and DISMISS in part for lack of jurisdiction over additional issues. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND This is an interlocutory appeal from orders in an in rem admiralty proceeding “determining the rights and liabilities of the parties,” and the appeal is therefore authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(3). The suit is against three vessels: the Captain Frank Bechtolt, the CIT-103, and the Idler Barge. T.W. LaQuay Marine, L.L.C., now in bankruptcy, owned the Idler Barge and leased the Bechtolt and the CIT-103 from Manson Construction Company and Caillou Island Towing Company, Inc., respectively. At LaQuay’s request — and without Manson’s or Caillou’s knowledge or consent 1 — John Bludworth Shipyard, L.L.C. (“JBS”), performed nearly $3 million in services physically connecting the three vessels and equipping each vessel to perform its new role as part of a single dredging unit for a project along the Gulf Coast. The three-vessel dredging unit works as follows: in front is the Bechtolt, which does the dredging; in the middle is the CIT-103, which acts as a “booster barge” to increase the Bechtolt’s dredging efficiency; and in the

_____________________ 1 Manson may be implying that a no-lien clause in its contract with LaQuay necessarily prevented a maritime lien from arising on the Bechtolt. That implication ignores a caveat. A no-lien clause does not prevent a maritime lien from arising unless the entity providing necessaries had actual knowledge of the clause. See Lake Charles Stevedores, Inc. v. Professor Vladimir Popov MV, 199 F.3d 220, 225 (5th Cir. 1999).

2 Case: 24-20399 Document: 100-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 05/22/2025