Recognizing Mr. David Paul Horan's 80 Years of Community Service and Legal Accomplishments

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Mr. GIMENEZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Key West native Mr. David Paul Horan for his community leadership and notable achievements in admiralty and maritime law.

David Horan has spent almost 50 years serving on various community boards and commissions in the Florida Keys. Since 1973, he has served as a Director of the Greater Key West Chamber of Commerce. Other leadership roles have included serving on the Key West Military Affairs Committee, the Florida Keys National Marine Advisory Sanctuary Counsel, and the Special Environmental Counsel for Monroe County. In 2001, Mr. Horan was inducted into the Key West Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame, Key West's highest community service award.

In addition to his work serving the community, David is an accomplished lawyer. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 1972, David specializes in complex federal and state litigation. Much of his career has been dedicated to protecting local interests against excessive regulation. One pro-bono case of David's, Young v. DCA, was monumental: the Florida Supreme Court's opinion reversed almost twenty years of decisions on the ``burden of proof'' issue, significantly restricting the state of Florida's authority to overturn local governmental decisions. David has also represented many commercial fishermen in addition to salvors of historic shipwrecks, generally centuries-old Spanish galleons sunk along Florida's coast.

Another of David's notable legal victories came in his successful oral argument in the 1982 Supreme Court case Florida Dept. of State v. Treasure Salvors, Inc, which concerned the ownership of salvage from the 1622 Spanish Galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha. The Supreme Court rejected the State's claim to the property and upheld the transfer of artifacts to Treasure Salvors.

What an honor it is to recognize David Horan for his phenomenal career in law and life of service to the Florida Keys and Floridians across the state. I wish David, his wife, five children, and many grandchildren all the best as he begins a ninth decade of a very full life.

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