SS United States Lawsuit: Sinking, Dismissal, and Sanctions Denied

The SS United States lawsuits — a Philadelphia eviction case brought by the ship’s pier operator and a federal challenge filed in Florida to stop the vessel from being sunk as an artificial reef — have both ended. The eviction suit settled in October 2024. The federal reefing challenge was dismissed on standing grounds in August 2025, and a follow-on motion for sanctions against the plaintiffs’ attorney was denied in January 2026. The ship now sits in Mobile, Alabama, waiting on final federal approvals before being deployed roughly 22 miles off Destin-Fort Walton Beach.

The Philadelphia Eviction Suit That Started Everything

The chain of litigation began at Pier 82 on the Delaware River. In 2021, pier operator Penn Warehousing & Distribution doubled the rent on the SS United States. The SS United States Conservancy, the nonprofit that had owned the vessel since 2011, refused to pay, arguing the lease had no provision allowing a unilateral increase. Penn Warehousing terminated the lease in 2022 and sued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, seeking roughly $290,700 in unpaid docking fees.¹

Senior U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody ruled that the Conservancy owed no back rent at the higher rate but upheld the lease termination itself. She ordered the ship to vacate Pier 82 by September 12, 2024.² In September 2024, the Conservancy filed a motion alleging that Penn Warehousing had demanded $3 million from Okaloosa County, Florida — which had emerged as a buyer — as a condition of releasing the vessel.¹

After court-ordered mediation, the parties reached a confidential settlement in October 2024. The Conservancy reported “limited financial liability” under the terms, though the eviction order itself remained in force.³ With a binding deadline and no alternative pier, the Conservancy signed a contract selling the vessel to Okaloosa County, which had earmarked $13 million in tourism bed-tax revenue for a reef and museum project. Title formally transferred on October 12, 2024.⁴

On February 19, 2025, tugboats pulled the ship away from Pier 82 and started a roughly 1,800-nautical-mile tow down the Atlantic coast, around Florida, and into the Gulf. The vessel arrived in the port of Mobile, Alabama, in March 2025.⁵⁶

The Federal Lawsuit to Stop the Sinking

The Philadelphia case was barely closed before a new one opened in Florida. On March 2, 2025, the New York Coalition to Save the Steam Ship United States, Inc. — a Brooklyn-based group formed after the sale to Okaloosa County — filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The case, New York Coalition to Save the Steam Ship United States, Inc. v. Okaloosa County, Florida, Case No. 3:25-cv-00212, was brought under admiralty jurisdiction and a civil-rights statute.⁷

Represented by New York attorney James M. Maloney, the Coalition argued the vessel should be preserved because of its history as a record-setting liner and Cold War troop transport. It relied on two mid-20th-century federal statutes, Public Law 92-296 and Public Law 94-536, which had authorized the ship’s use as a floating hotel and gave the federal government a requisition or purchase option under certain Merchant Marine Act provisions.⁸⁹ Those statutes authorized a commercial use and preserved a federal buyback option; they did not mandate preservation.

Before filing, the Coalition sent letters in February 2025 to President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging the executive branch to take possession of the ship for public use with “just compensation” to Okaloosa County. The group reported receiving no response. Okaloosa County’s motion to dismiss later noted it was unclear whether the executive branch was even aware of the letter.¹⁰

Okaloosa County’s Response

The county called the suit “frivolous,” “baseless,” and “unmoored from any legal theory,” and moved to dismiss on standing grounds and for failure to state a claim.¹¹ U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers denied the initial motion in April 2025, letting the case proceed on a briefing schedule.¹⁰ The Coalition filed an amended complaint on April 18, 2025.⁸

Dismissal for Lack of Standing

On August 6, 2025, Judge Rodgers dismissed the case without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The court found the Coalition lacked constitutional standing, describing its interest as “too abstract” and finding that the group had been “formed for the purpose of interfering with Okaloosa County’s intended and authorized use of the ship.”¹²¹³ The merits of the Coalition’s statutory arguments were never reached. The group later withdrew its complaint with prejudice, ending any possibility of refiling, and said it would pursue administrative challenges instead.⁸¹¹

Sanctions Denied

On August 21, 2025, Okaloosa County filed a motion for sanctions against Maloney under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, seeking attorneys’ fees and costs. The county argued the amended complaint was objectively frivolous and had been filed in bad faith to delay the reef project.¹⁴

U.S. Magistrate Judge Hope Thai Cannon denied the motion in an order filed in late January 2026. She found the Coalition’s standing argument “weak” but not “so frivolous as to warrant sanctions,” noting that standing law is “amorphous” and that the standard from the Supreme Court’s Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife decision has been applied inconsistently enough that the Coalition’s position could not be said to have had “no reasonable chance of success.” She also found no evidence the case was brought to harass or delay, pointing out that the litigation lasted only five months, produced 29 docket entries, and involved genuine attempts to cure the standing defects.¹⁴

James S. Kaplan, the Coalition’s director and chair of its legal committee, called the ruling a vindication of the legal team’s “good faith effort to stop the destruction” of the ship.¹³

What’s Left After the Courts

With the federal suit dismissed with prejudice and no new lawsuit pending, opposition has moved into administrative and public-pressure channels. A separate group, the SS United States Preservation Foundation, co-founded by Carlos Camacho Jr., has focused on environmental objections, in particular an estimated 30 tons of zinc chromate primer bonded to the ship’s steel hull. Zinc chromate contains hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen. Camacho has estimated remediation costs could exceed $50 million, and University of Florida biogeochemist Dr. Todd Osborne told the Okaloosa County Commission in January 2026 that a submerged ship could create an underwater “Superfund site.”¹⁵

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich weighed in publicly in February 2026, posting on Facebook: “Clean your ship up before you sink her … or be stupid, do it, harm thousands, and spend hundreds of millions cleaning up your crap for the next twenty years.”¹⁶

Okaloosa County says zinc chromate is not federally regulated as a substance requiring removal under the EPA’s best-management practices for vessel reefing, and that it is treated like intact lead-based paint or asbestos, both of which can remain on a reefed vessel.¹⁶ The Preservation Foundation has used the National Historic Preservation Act to participate in the Army Corps’ federal review and has proposed that the federal government provide the county with a substitute vessel to reef in exchange for taking ownership of the SS United States.¹⁵

Because the ship is on the National Register of Historic Places, the Army Corps of Engineers conducted a Section 106 review under the National Historic Preservation Act. That review included a 15-day public comment period beginning April 7, 2026, and concluded with a Memorandum of Agreement signed on April 21, 2026, by the Army Corps, the Florida State Historic Preservation Office, and Okaloosa County. The Corps found that sinking the vessel would have an “adverse effect” on a historic property; the mitigation required is 3D scanning, photography, and documentation of removed parts, along with efforts to maintain the ship’s National Register listing.¹⁷

Where the Ship Stands Today

As of mid-2026, the SS United States remains docked in downtown Mobile, Alabama. Okaloosa County reports that environmental remediation — removal of fuel, PCBs, petroleum residue, loose asbestos, loose paint, wiring, and non-metal components — is complete.¹⁸¹⁹ The county is waiting on final sign-off from the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA, with a final environmental report to the EPA expected soon. County leaders originally targeted early May 2026 for deployment and now estimate the ship could be sunk within 30 to 60 days of receiving federal clearance.²⁰²¹

The planned resting site is approximately 22 miles south of Destin-Fort Walton Beach in about 180 feet of water, where the county says the vessel will become the world’s largest artificial reef. The $13 million project, funded by tourism bed-tax revenue, covers the purchase, tow, remediation, and contributions to a land-based museum in Destin-Fort Walton Beach that will incorporate the ship’s six-story smokestacks and house artifacts curated by the SS United States Conservancy.¹⁸²²

1
PhillyVoice. SS United States Eviction South Philly Sale Okaloosa County Court Hearing
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USA Today. SS United States Evicted Americas Flagship
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Cruise Industry News. SS United States Conservancy Pier Operator Reach Settlement
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SS United States Conservancy. Dispute Between the SS United States Conservancy and Penn Warehousing Settled
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NBC Philadelphia. SS United States Depart South Philly
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6abc. SS United States Moving Historic Ocean Liner Begin Journey
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CourtListener. New York Coalition to Save the Steam Ship United States Inc. v. Okaloosa County
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New York Coalition to Save the SS United States. Legal Basis and More
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U.S. Congress. Public Law 94-536
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Pensacola News Journal. Donald Trump Pam Bondi Asked to Stop SS United States Sinking
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AL.com. Despite Claim of Major Victory by Foes Plans to Sink Historic Ship Are on Track
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CBS News Philadelphia. SS United States Sinking Lawsuit Thrown Out
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New York Almanack. Effort Sanction SS United States
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FindLaw. New York Coalition to Save the Steam Ship United States Inc. v. Okaloosa County
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PhillyVoice. SS United States Reef Environmental Hazard Erin Brockovich Hexavalent Chromium
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AL.com. Erin Brockovich Weighs in on Florida Plans to Sink Ocean Liner
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Mid Bay News. A New Life Underwater SS United States Begins Its Final Transformation
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Okaloosa County. SS United States FAQs
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WKRG. SS United States One Step Closer to Final Departure
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Philadelphia Today. SS United States Deployment Sinking Delayed
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Fox 10 TV. Cleanup Complete Final Federal OK Still Pending SS United States Reef Plan
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6abc. SS United States Update First Looks Museum Will Commemorate Historic Ocean Liner