Legal Battle Underway For Ownership Of Asteroid Eros
By rickyjames, Section News Posted on Mon Nov 10, 2003 at 08:34:47 AM PST
A Complaint for Declaratory Judgment was filed in the United States District Court, District of Nevada in Reno, Nevada on November 6, 2003 by Orbital Development of Carson City, Nevada against the United States of America, demanding the U.S.A. acknowledge that Asteroid 433, Eros has been lawfully owned by Gregory W. Nemitz since March 3, 2000. Seems Nemitz sent NASA a $20 parking ticket for landing thair NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft on his asteroid on February 12, 2001 - a real deal, since the fee would have covered a full century of landing rights. But in this era of bloated Federal expenditures, a decision was made that paying such a fee just wasn't in the current Federal budget. On August 15, 2003 Department of State officially responded, stating by its interpretation of the United Nations' Outer Space Treaty of 1967 that Nemitz's "claim is without legal basis."
Gregory W. Nemitz disagrees. And the first interplanetary legal battle has been joined.
As reported by Space Frontier, the Complaint alleges that Nemitz was denied his Fifth, Ninth and Tenth Amendment rights protected by the Constitution. Nemitz asserts in the Court filings that "no treaty has ever abrogated, overthrown, or amended constitutional law" The suit is seeking $1,107 in damages, rulings to overturn the NASA and Department of State conclusions, and a ruling that Nemitz's Claim to ownership of the asteroid is a Lawful and valid Claim. The central issue of the case submitted to the Court is "Treaty vs. the Natural, Inherent Rights of Man" to acquire and own property. The side issue of whether actual possession is required prior recognized ownership, is moot in this regard. US District Judge Howard D. McKibben has been assigned to the action.
Nevada, of course, has a long history of legal miner claims and this one is in some ways no different. Orbital Development of Carson City is behind the so-called "Eros Project" to ultimately mine the resources of that distant rock, a mining claim they claim is worth $10 trillion.
Nemitz expects a jury to hear his case. For those of you who can take a little jaunt to Hawaii on short notice, Nemitz will speak about Property Rights in Space and Space Property Law at the International Lunar Conference in Hawaii on November 21, 2003. His presentation is titled "Developing Property Claims and Asteroid Eros", and presumably he will unveil some of his planned legal strategy for pursuing this case. While the rest of us are waiting on CONUS for Court TV coverage, here's something else of related interest...
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