McCULLOUGH v N.v VISCHHANDEL and Others

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Teevan J.
• Judgment Date: 29 March 1966
• Neutral Citation: 1965 WJSC-HC 5513
• Court: High Court
• Date: 29 March 1966

1965 WJSC-HC 5513

McCULLOUGH v. N.V. VISCHHANDEL & ORS

THE CONDOR

v

THE SPES MELIOR

v

ROBERT JOHN McCULLOUGH

Plaintiff

v

N.V. VISHANDEL REEDERIJ EN IJS FABRIEK V/H FRANK VROLIJK TE SCHEVENINGEN

1 JUDGMENT 29th March 1966 Teevan J.

Teevan J.

2 The only defence to this summons made by Mr. Martin is on the question of time, submitting that the action is barred by the time bar set up by section 8 of the Maritime Convention Act 1911. That has been fully debated and I accept the interpretation of the section submitted by Mr. O'Hanlon and supported by the authorities cited by him and particularly that of The Arraiz 132 L.T. 701

3 In this case the plaintiff indicated, right from the commencement that he intended to hold the ship that collided with him responsible and he put the matter of repair in hand at once and indicated to the ship-wright that the damage had been caused by collision with another ship and on the advice of the ship-wright had the damage surveyed by a ship surveyor. He then got in touch (or perhaps indeed he was in touch before that) with Mr. Vrolijk, whom he assumed to be the owner of The Condor. I may say, at this point, that I am quite satisfied on the evidence that The Condor did in fact collide with the Spes Mellior, the plaintiff's vessel, as she lay berthed in the river at Waterford, in the manner described by the witnesses & that the damage was caused by that collision. However, to return to the subject I was on, Mr. Vrolijk assured the plaintiff that he would see that the matter would be settled up and to get his vessel repaired and that he (Vrolijk) would see to the payment for it. That was done and the account, or bill, for the repairs who handed to Mr. Donnan, an agent for Mr. Vrolijk. Mr. Donnan was unsuccessful in collecting the money on his next trip to Holland - still well within the two-year period - the plaintiff however, not being aware of any such time bar. The plaintiff became aware, on Mr. Donnan's return that the owner, or the person he took to be the owners, of the vessel, was not in fact going to pay the bill: He put the matter in the hands of his solicitor, having first waited until the next herring season at Dunmore when he kept a look-out for The Condor but The Condor was not in the fleet of vessels that arrived that season from Holland at Dunmore. In any event when Mr. Collins, the plaintiff's solicitor in April 1964 took the matter up it was to Mr. Vrolijk that he wrote, on the instructions of his client who still...