<p>Lawyers asked a federal magistrate Thursday to throw out a lawsuit accusing the leaders of an Atlanta-based Titanic salvage company of enriching themselves at stockholders expense.</p><p>We ask this court to put an end to the meritless litigation filed against my clients, said Robert McFarland, an attorney for two of the defendants, RMS Titanic Inc. President Arnie Geller and Vice President Gerald Couture.</p><p>McFarland said there is no evidence to support the lawsuits claims of obstruction of justice and breach of fiduciary duty as corporate officers, which he called spurious and baseless.</p><p>The defendants are seeking a summary judgment, in which the judge rules without the case going to trial.</p><p>Steven G. Storch, attorney for shareholder Lawrence DAddario, argued that a jury should get to decide the case.</p><p>Storch said company leaders engaged in self-serving deals to line their own pockets, citing several actions he suggested were suspicious.</p><p>For example, Storch said Geller gave a man 600,000 shares of company stock in exchange for secret treasure maps that no one in the company but Geller saw and that Geller never had appraised.</p><p>Another defendant testified during depositions that the transaction was a scam or kickback scheme, Storch said.</p><p>McFarland countered that RMS Titanic could have used the maps to conduct expeditions to about a dozen shipwrecks. But when the company couldnt afford to do so, the 600,000 shares were returned, he said.</p><p>There was zero damage from that, he said.</p><p>Storch also said company leaders intended to cut into the Titanics hull to remove artifacts, in defiance of a court order, and spent $2 million during one expedition trying to figure out a way to break the Titanic apart.</p><p>These defendants chafed at the idea of having to be under the supervision of the court, Storch told Miller.</p><p>McFarland said no artifacts were taken off the ship once RMS Titanic got the courts order.</p><p>U.S. Magistrate Judge Tommy E. Miller said he would issue a report by March 5 and then lawyers for both sides could respond. The ultimate decision will rest with U.S. District Judge Rebecca B. Smith, who can affirm, modify or reject Millers report.</p><p>The lawsuit was filed in April 2002 by DAddario, who owns about 6 percent of RMS Titanics stock. While it is not a class action, DAddario is acting on behalf of other shareholders, his attorney said.</p><p>McFarland said DAddario is merely a puppet in this litigation. He said the lawsuit is part of a vendetta against the company by Allan Carlin, who was removed from the board after a hostile takeover in 1999.</p><p>Storch said that as one of RMS Titanics largest individual shareholders, DAddario has standing to bring the lawsuit.</p><p>Carlin had been an attorney for DAddario, but I dont know that there is anything untoward about that, Storch said.</p><p>The lawsuit seeks more than $3 million in damages _ including forfeiture of defendants salaries and restitution of the $2 million lost during the expedition _ and the defendants removal from the companys board of directors, Storch said.</p><p>Geller is paid about $300,000 a year, which McFarland said was in line with the previous presidents salary.</p><p>The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Norfolk, where a judge awarded the company sole salvage rights to the Titanic wreck in 1994.</p><p>Also named as defendants are the company itself, former vice president G. Michael Harris and the largest stockholder, Joe Marsh, an Akron, Ohio, businessman who led a successful hostile takeover of the company in 1999. Harris was fired.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2863b38)</p>
