Porto Seguro Companhia De Seguros Gerais v Belcan SA and Others (The “Federal Danube”) - Federal Court of Appeal (Pratte and MacGuigan JJA and Chevalier DJA) - 29 March 1996

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 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.