Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
English Shipping Law
Stephen Girvin**
CASES
154. Feest v South West Strategic Health Authority 1
Limitation of time—personal injury sustained by employee on rigid inflatable boat (RIB) trip—whether claim for contribution by employer against operator outside Athens Convention 1974, Art.16—whether claim for contribution against carrier extinguished—Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978, s.1(1)
F sustained a lower back wedge compression fracture while on board a rigid inflatable boat, Celtic Pioneer.2 F was taking part in a corporate team-building exercise in the Bristol Channel when the accident occurred. She brought a personal injury claim against H, her employer, just before the three-year limitation period was about to expire. H brought a CPR Part 20 claim3 against B, the owner and operator of Celtic Pioneer, seeking a contribution to any liability it had to F under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978, s.1(1).4 B asserted that the boat trip was one to which the Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 1974 applied and that, as a result of Arts 14 and 16 of that Convention, the claim for contribution was barred because it had not been brought within two years of the date on which F disembarked. The district judge accepted B’s submission and dismissed the Part 20 claim.
On appeal, the judge also dismissed the claim. The words used in Art.16 had to be given an objective interpretation and so the words “an action for damages… shall be time-barred after a period of two years” in Art.16(1) meant that no action for damages arising out of personal injury to a passenger could be brought against the carrier after two years had elapsed from the date of disembarkation.
* MPA Professor of Maritime Law, Director, Centre for Maritime Law, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. I acknowledge the research assistance of Mr Jesse Ji Zhihe, Research Associate, Centre for Maritime Law.
1. Sub nom South West Strategic Health Authority v Bay Island Voyages [2015] EWCA Civ 708; [2016] QB 503; [2015] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 652; [2016] 1 All ER (Comm) 821; [2016] 2 WLR 649 (CA: Tomlinson, Laws & Kitchin LJJ); noted P Todd [2015] LMCLQ 477; rvsg [2014] EWHC 177 (QB); [2014] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 419 (Mercantile Court, Bristol: HHJ Havelock-Allan QC); noted P Todd [2014] LMCLQ 344; S Girvin [2015] IMCLY §150.
2. For the Marine Accident Investigation Bureau (MAIB) Report on the incident, “Report on the investigation of injury to a passenger on board the RIB Celtic Pioneer Bristol Channel 26 August 2008”, see assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/547c6febed915d4c10000055/CelticPioneerReport.pdf.
3. A Part 20 claim is for counterclaims and other additional claims, other than a claim by a claimant against a defendant.
4. This provides that: “Subject to the following provisions of this section, any person liable in respect of any damage suffered by another person may recover contribution from any other person liable in respect of the same damage (whether jointly with him or otherwise).”
English Shipping Law
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