Lloyd's Maritime Law Newsletter
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.