Sausalito vessel seizure temporarily halted by judge
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Richardson’s Bay Regional Agency from seizing the boat of a man who calls it his residence.
U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick issued the order Tuesday. The ruling temporarily protects the vessel owned by Daniel Knight pending the resolution of a lawsuit he filed. The case is set to go to trial in October if a settlement cannot be reached.
“Everything is going to stay the same for a while,” said J. David Breemer, an attorney representing Knight. “Daniel Knight will not have his boat seized at this time.”
A spokesperson for the agency said it had no comment on the case.
Knight, who says he lives on the 35-foot Coronado in the bay, sued the agency and a slew of other defendants in October. He alleges they sought to illegally seize his boat for destruction and extort him into participating in the agency’s vessel buyback program.
The suit seeks to halt the seizure of the boat. Orrick granted a temporary restraining order against the agency on Oct. 27 in anticipation of Tuesday’s hearing.
The central argument in the case is whether Knight’s boat constitutes “marine debris” and whether Knight lives on the boat. The veracity of these claims will determine whether the boat can be seized by the agency.
A hearing on the agency’s motion to dismiss the suit is set for Feb. 8.
Knight has argued that he recently sailed his boat around the Richardson Bay without incident. He also contends the boat was “navigable and habitable” and was the only residence he has lived in since he fixed the hull last year.
The agency has submitted a marine surveyor’s report from September 2022, noting the vessel came adrift and ran aground on the Belvedere shoreline in October 2021. It previously appeared uninhabited and was tagged twice as marine debris.
The agency has also provided text messages indicating Knight sought to participate in the buyback program.
The buyback program was an initiative launched last year by the agency to speed the removal of boat-dwelling residents — known as anchor-outs — from Richardson Bay, in accordance with a state mandate directing the agency to protect eelgrass in the area.
The program expired at the end of 2022. As of his month the agency has spent $42,000 on the purchase of eight vessels. One vessel has been under negotiation since the previous year and remains so. The estimated cost of the vessel is $4,800.
Sixty-six vessels, including transient vessels and floating homes, were anchored in the bay as of Dec. 2, according to an agency staff report. Forty-seven are within the eelgrass protection zone.