PACE SHIPPING CO LTD OF MALTA V CHURCHGATE NIGERIA LTD OF NIGERIA

[2010] EWHC 2828 (Comm), Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court, Mr Justice Burton, 7 October 2010

Shipping - Title to goods - Lawful holder of the bill of lading - Whether claim under section 2(4) COGSA amounted to separate cause of action - Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992, section 2

Churchgate had claimed against Pace Shipping under section 2(1) of COGSA 1992, that is as lawful holder of the bill of lading. Following a complex arbitration and litigation history, an appeal had come before Burton J in which Pace Shipping argued that section 2(4) of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992 created a separate cause of action for other persons with interest in the goods who were not holders of the bill of lading. Pace Shipping argued that that cause of action had to be pleaded separately from that in section 2(1). Burton J dismissed the appeal. In supporting its claim on section 2(4) COGSA in addition to section 2(1), Churchgate had not brought a separate action but was pursuing its own cause of action in reliance upon its own "rights of suit". Having suffered no loss, the recovered sum was not for Churchgate to retain, but it would be accountable therefor to the owner of the goods, NBIC.