A reversal Wednesday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit revives a shipping company’s effort to limit its liability for vibration damage to nearby homes from the $56 million rebuilding of the Pinellas Bayway Bridge near St. Pete Beach.

It’s a case about clocks, ships, what holds up bridges—long poles called piles—and how they get under there. Also, it’s a cautionary tale about what can happen to valuable coastal real estate.