Leon Corporation v. Atlantic Lines & Navigation Co. Inc. (The Leon) - Q.B.D. (Com.Ct.) (Hobhouse J.) - 8 July 1985

Time charter - Whether owners’ alleged breaches entitle charterers to set off sums against hire payments

The vessel Leon was time-chartered under the NYPE form for five years from 1979. Between 1981 and 1984 the charterers had complained to the owners about various matters. The owners had failed to provide the deck and engine log books when requested; there was an incident in 1982 when the master and chief engineer had tried to persuade the bunker supplier to deliver less oil to the vessel than had been ordered, to render to the charterers an invoice for the full quantity and to pay the difference in cash to themselves; when the log books were eventually produced under an Italian court order, the charterers’ experts studied them and concluded that there were discrepancies in bunker consumption which could only be explained by the oil having been pumped overside and/or the charterers had been invoiced for quantities which had not been delivered to the vessel. The experts calculated the total discrepancy to amount to $296,624.