There was a recent discussion here regarding a salvage company in Slidell, LA barring boat owners from their boats. The following was printed in The Advocate, the Baton Rouge newspaper, this morning. Thought some might find it interesting. Companies file suit to eliminate boat salvage 'middle man' By ADRIAN ANGELETTE aangelette@theadvocate.com Advocate staff writer The insurance and boat management companies trying to salvage yachts and other large vessels damaged during Hurricane Katrina claim in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that they are capable of doing the work and don't need a salvage company to assist. The lawsuit, filed in state District Court in Baton Rouge, also claims that the salvage company, Marine Recovery and Salvage LLC, isn't doing any work but is attempting to charge three times the going rate for it. Late Tuesday afternoon, ad hoc state District Judge Leon A. Cannizzaro Jr. signed a temporary restraining order calling on the salvage company to discontinue work until after an Oct. 13 hearing. Continental Insurance Co., St. Paul Travelers Cos. and the Boat Owners Association of the United States filed the lawsuit against Marine Recovery and Salvage and the board of commissioners for the Orleans Levee District. The salvage company -- formed Sept. 8, about a week after Katrina struck -- is being run by Michael G. Mayer and Douglas Scott Carmouche, son of Orleans Levee District attorney George L. Carmouche, the lawsuit says. "There is no need for a middle man. These are large insurance and management firms that do this all over the place," said Andrew Wilson, a New Orleans attorney temporarily based in Baton Rouge. The Boat Owners Association estimated that its contractors would charge $300,000 to salvage the boats insured by Continental. Having Marine Recovery and Salvage involved in the work will push that cost to $800,000 to $900,000, the lawsuit says. The work is being done by a subcontractor hired by Marine Recovery and Salvage. But in New Orleans, when the insurance and boat management companies try to send representatives to get the salvage work done, they are prevented from doing so by Orleans Levee Board Police, the lawsuit says. In response to the lawsuit, George L. Carmouche claims there is no nepotism because Marine Recovery and Salvage does not have a contract with the levee board and is not being paid by the levee board. Carmouche said Marine Recovery and Salvage got the right to organize the salvage operation because "we didn't want everyone to go out there and try to get their boat." "It would be total chaos and possibly a liability to the levee board," Carmouche said. Resolve Marine Group of Port Everglades, Fla., is doing the salvage work and Marine Recovery and Salvage is working with the insurance companies and boat owners. "U.S. Boats is the only one that is not satisfied," Carmouche said. The levee board attorney also said that shutting down the operation will cost Resolve Marine Groups "hundreds of thousands of dollars" because it has large equipment, salvage personnel and divers on site. In addition, Marine Recovery and Salvage is spray painting the yachts with the letters, "MRS." Wilson maintains that yacht owners will have to get their boats repainted because of the damage caused by the salvage company.