Water Damage to Containerized Cargo - Jurisdiction - Latent
27.12.2017 |Articles
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In April of 2006, serious damage was found among the cargo in the 1×20′ container carried by M/V “Xiang Pu”, when the said ship just arrived at Nantong Port. Then the shipper lodged a lawsuit against the Guangzhou Branch of ** Container Lines Co., Ltd. and the Foshan Sales Department thereof before the Chancheng District People’s Court of Foshan City. Mr. Huang Yaquan of Huang & Huang Co. Law Firm handled the case upon the entrustment of the Defendant and the ship’s P & I Club. With his efforts, the lawyer of our law firm successfully persuaded Chancheng District People’s Court of Foshan City to transfer this case to Guangzhou Maritime Court for trial. After careful and detailed study into merits of the case, Mr. Huang Yaquan, associating this case with the actual circumstances like the Way Bill and Survey Report, raised an effective defence that the defendants should not be liable for compensation in accordance with law, for the Guangzhou Branch of ** Container Lines Co., Ltd. and the Foshan Sales Department thereof should not be the carrier of the cargo in question under the contract of waterway cargo transportation, and, it was the nature or inherent vice of the goods and the fault of the shipper as well as the consignee that resulted in the damage to the cargo in question. In the end, the court of first instance had adopted all the opinions of defence from the attending lawyer of our law firm, by which the court rejected the Plaintiff’s lawsuit requirements. The Plaintiff did not raise an appeal afterwards. |