Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc (The Achilleas)
[2008] UKHL 48
Ratio Decidendi
Remoteness of damage in contract may depend not just on foreseeability but also on whether the type of loss fell within the scope of the defendant's assumed responsibility. A charterer who redelivered a vessel late was not liable for the difference between the original charter rate and a lower market rate on the next fixture, because such market exposure was not within the scope of the charterer's responsibility.
Hechos
The Achilleas was time-chartered to Transfield. The charterer redelivered the vessel approximately nine days late. During the overrun period, the market rate for chartering had dropped significantly. The owner had already agreed a follow-on charter at a higher rate, but due to the late redelivery, the follow-on charterer demanded a reduced rate. The owner claimed the difference (approximately $1.36 million) rather than just the market rate for the overrun period (approximately $158,000).
Resumen de la sentencia
The House of Lords held that the charterer was liable only for the difference between the charter rate and the market rate during the overrun period, not for the reduced rate on the follow-on fixture. Lord Hoffmann held that the question was not simply whether the loss was foreseeable but whether it fell within the scope of the duty assumed by the charterer. The volatile nature of the shipping market meant that it would not reasonably be understood that the charterer was assuming responsibility for the owner's exposure to market movements on future fixtures.
Citas clave
"The question of whether a given type of loss is one for which a party assumed contractual responsibility is answered by construction of the contract as a whole against its commercial background."
— Lord Hoffmann
Tratamiento posterior
A leading authority on remoteness of damage in contract, introducing the 'assumption of responsibility' approach alongside the traditional Hadley v Baxendale test.