[260313.EN.SEA] Classification Society Accident Liability Inches Closer To Acceptance

CLASSIFICATION societies have yet to be blamed for negligence or "reckless misconduct" after oil spills from ships they said were "good-to-go", but plaintiffs are getting closer to assigning legal blame, says a report in Forwarderlaw.

Against this, is the long-held judicial view that surveyors not to regarded as "guarantors to the world", but only to those with whom they have contracts, said the report.

"This is because maritime law imposes on shipowners a nondelegable duty to run seaworthy vessels, and an ability to deflect liability to a survey organisation might encourage lackadaisical attitudes about safety," said the report's author, Steve Block, a lawyer with Seattle law firm Foster Pepper.

"Absent a direct relationship with them, industry shouldn't look to classification societies as likely sources of financial recovery," said Mr Block.

This is what Spain discovered when it sued for compensation from classification society, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). after it passed tanker Prestige as "good to go" despite its faulty hull.

The 81,000-ton Prestige, a Greek-operated, Liberian-flagged single-hulled tanker, sank in a storm in 2002, while carrying a 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil after one of its tanks burst, polluting thousands of kilometres of coastline as well as causing great harm to commercial fishing. The spill was rated the worst environmental disaster Spanish and Portuguese history.

"Spain filed suit in the US District Court in New York, claiming that usual standards of negligence and due care, which have barred claims against classification societies in the past were inapplicable here because ABS behaved worse than carelessly," said Mr Block.

Spain said ABS acted with "reckless disregard", declared Mr Block, who added: "Reckless misconduct involves conscious disregard of known dangers which one's acts or omissions create, whereas negligence may be found when one didn't know one's conduct posed a danger. Because the former is more egregious, the law holds the feet of reckless tortfeasors [those guilty of wrongful acts that cause injury] closer to the fire when damages result."

The court dismissed Spain's suit on summary judgment, finding that to establish reckless behaviour in such a case required a contract between the classification society and plaintiff. ABS had no connection with Spain, so it didn't fulfil this requirement, he said.

But when the case moved to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, judges agreed with Spain that "reckless misconduct" might be distinguishable from "negligence", which had been rejected by the lower court ruling, and might be enough to impose liability on a classification society.

But in this particular case, the appeal court concluded that even if reckless conduct could conceptually be a basis for liability, no reasonable jury could conclude ABS had acted recklessly with regard to the Prestige in a way that caused Spain's damages.

Source : HKSG.