Unalaska, AK – Victims of the Alaska Ranger and their families are trying to claim damages against the ship's owner, the Fishing Company of Alaska. In response, the FCA is trying to invoke a 1851 law that says the claimants can only ask for an amount that's less than the worth of the vessel at the end of its voyage. In this case, the FCA says the 184-foot fishing trawler that now sits at the bottom of the Bering Sea is worth nothing.

Attorney Steven Fury is representing the family of Eric Jacobson, one of the five crew members who died in the March 23rd sinking. He explains the Limitations of Liability Law says that "the vessel owner can bring a lawsuit against the victims of the accident and say, 'It's not our fault' and have a federal court determine that for everyone who might be a victim."

That means all 21 personal injury and 2 wrongful death lawsuits that were filed against the FCA in Washington state are now lumped together in the federal courts. If anyone else wants to file claim, they must join in this suit soon.

In order to limit their liability in the incident, FCA must prove that the Alaska Ranger was seaworthy and properly manned and equipped. The FCA's lawyer, Michael Barcott, did not return any phone calls, but Fury says he thinks this will be hard for them to do.

"The simple answer is that, there were problems with the vessel that were or should have been known to the FCA and they shouldn't have ever sent the vessel out to sea like that."

During Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board investigations of the incident, crew members testified that the ship's bulkheads had cracked steel and the doors showed signs of wear.

Fury says that a general principle of maritime law is that when a vessel sinks in weather that can reasonably anticipated, then the vessel was not sea worthy.

"This was rough weather but it wasn't unusual weather," he says. "So the FCA will have to overcome that presumption that there was a problem with the vessel, the unseaworthiness of the vessel."

Fury also says that the FCA is relying on a 19th century law that isn't relevant in the modern context.

"The theory of it is that somebody owns a vessel, sends it out to sea, they have no control over it. If the crew members on the vessel run into somebody or cause a problem, the owner shouldn't be held responsible unless they had some personal action in it," he says. "Well, that might have worked when you sent your vessel out to sea in the 19th century and you couldn't even get a letter to it. That's nonsense now."

The FCA has filed a motion with the U.S. District Court in Seattle requesting public notice be made for their limiting claim.