Assuranceforeningen Gard Gjensidig v. The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund 1971 [2014] EWHC 3369 (Comm)
The Commercial Court has dismissed a claim brought by Gard (a P&I Club) who sought a declaration that the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund 1971 should indemnify it in respect of the US$60 million liability owed by Gard to the Republic of Venezuela. Gard’s liability arose from a 2010 judgment of the Venezuelan courts relating to oil pollution damage resulting from the grounding in 1997 of the vessel Nissos Amorgos in the Maracaibo Channel, Venezuela. The Court dismissed the claim against the Fund on the basis of its immunity from the Court’s jurisdiction.
The Fund enjoys immunity from suit and legal process pursuant to a 1979 Order in Council, but this is subject to exceptions that include proceedings in respect of “any loan or other transaction for the provision of finance.”
The Court in upholding the Fund’s immunity found that there was no contract between Gard and the Fund, but that even if such a contract did exist it was not a loan or other transaction for the provision of finance falling within the exception to immunity from suit and legal process contained in the 1979 Order.
Professor Dan Sarooshi was one of the counsel who successfully appeared for the Fund, instructed by Reed Smith LLP.
