The appellant, Tarpen SA Industrial Pesquera, a Uruguayan company, argued that it had a maritime lien for USD 270,000 against debts owed by the respondent shipowner, Itoman USA Inc, and made a corresponding claim against the proceeds of the judicial sale of the Maya I. The respondent shipowner and Sumipesca SA, a third party, objected to the appellant's claim. The Court of first instance and the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife dismissed the appellant's claims.

The appellant appealed in cassation to the Supreme Court.

Held: Appeal dismissed.

The appellant argues that its payments of salaries and tickets for the crew, hotel expenses, port expenses, fishing gear, bait, communications, etc, was acknowledged by Sumipesca SA, and that the latter was made aware of an earlier judgment by the Court of Montevideo, Uruguay, in this regard. However, there is insufficient evidence of the agreements from which such payments arose. The private 'voucher' or 'promissory note' signed by the representative of Sumipesca SA was not filed with the claim, and was not accompanied with the receipts or invoices of the payments made, the details of which were recorded in the aforementioned promissory note without efficient evidentiary detail. Article 2 of the MLM Convention 1926, ratified by Spain on 2 June 1930, requires convincing evidence of the existence of a maritime lien, since it must not harm ship mortgage loans. In addition to asserting a lien ranking in priority to such a mortgage, the alleged lienholder must have a real title, which in this case would have to be a foreign judgment recognising the maritime lien with a firm character that is not included in these proceedings. The evidence here lacks the precise conceptual specification required both by the substantive legal precepts of the Convention as well as the internal legal system. Apart from the lack of effective preferential title, when precautionary measures were requested in the Court of Montevideo on 24 July 1985, the initial ship arrest had already been blocked.