Martin Maritime Ltd v. Provident Capital Indemnity Fund Ltd (The ‘Lydia Flag’) - QBD (Com Ct)(Moore-Bick J) - 30 January 1998

Marine insurance - Loss of vessel’s rudder - Whether shipowners entitled to summary judgment against insurers

The vessel Lydia Flag was insured by the defendants. The plaintiff shipowners sought to recover under the insurance policy for the loss of its rudder at Abidjan in August 1996. It was common ground that the loss of the rudder was caused as a result of negligence on the part of ship repairers who dismantled the rudder and reassembled it for the purposes of examining the tail shaft when the vessel was drydocked in Piraeus in December 1995.