Porto Seguro Companhia De Seguros Gerais v Belcan SA and Others (The ‘Federal Danube’) - Supreme Court (L’Heureux-Dubé, Sopinka, Gonthier, Cory, McLachlin, Iacobucci and Major JJ) - 18 December 1997

Collision action - Assessors - Whether trial judge erred in refusing to recuse assessors and in refusing to allow plaintiffs to call expert witness in assessors’ area of expertise

The vessels Beograd and Federal Danube collided on 11 December 1984. The plaintiff insurers of the cargo on board the Beograd had paid their insured in respect of the loss of the cargo of beans and now brought a subrogated claim against inter alios the defendant owners of the Federal Danube which they considered to be responsible for the collision.