Manatee Towing Company and anr v Oceanbulk Maritime SA and anr (The ‘Bay Ridge’) - QBD (Com Ct)(Rix J) - 4 March 1999

Practice - Whether one party to an action can obtain discovery against another party in the same action on a matter which is not in question between them

The plaintiffs, joint owners of the oil tanker Bay Ridge , entered into negotiations with the first defendant for the sale of that vessel to it or a company to be nominated by it. Those negotiations were conducted with the help of the plaintiffs’ brokers. The defendants said that the negotiations resulted in a contract of sale, at a price of US$9,750,000, with the second defendant as the nominated buyer. The defendants contended that the vessel had a market value of $12,500,000. If there was a contract, it was never performed. The plaintiffs said that the negotiations did not result in a contract of sale.