Opinion: Treasure hunter Tommy Thompson wins a legal battle
When many people hear the word “treasure,” they imagine a world of pirates, shipwrecks, and chests filled with gold coins. Unfortunately, this quixotic allure hides the decades of legal pitfalls that often await.
Take treasure hunter Tommy Thompson, for example, who spent 10 years in a federal prison with no right to a jury trial or a court-appointed attorney, but finally scored a legal win recently. His case exemplifies a situation where the judicial contempt power was a toll that persisted for far too long.
There were multiple “costs of litigation” in Thompson’s case and no real resolution to the disagreement; instead, the legal proceedings only separated an explorer from recovering countless artifacts and exploring the uncharted waters we have yet to fully appreciate. This application of the contempt power may have even worked against the very problem it sought to remedy.
Thompson’s case began as a deep-sea adventure in 1989, when the brilliant maritime engineer made the greatest treasure find of the century. He located the S.S. Central America, which was carrying the spoils of California’s Gold Rush when it sank in 1857, yielding a treasure worth upwards of $765 million in 2024 dollars. Even more amazing than finding the wreck was Thompson’s ability to precisely salvage portions of the wreck in nearly 8,000 feet of water.