Melinda Holdings SA v Hellenic Mutual War Risks Association (Bermuda) Ltd ("The Silva") [2011] EWHC 181 (Comm)

P&I insurance – Whether ‘ordinary judicial process’ – Whether breach of duty to sue and labour

The facts

Melinda, the claimant, was a Liberian company and the owner of the vessel Silva. Hellenic, the defendant, was an insurer who had issued a war risks insurance for her. The Silva had been arrested by the Port Suez Court in Egypt on 24 December 2008 at the request of the Court Dues Department of the Ministry of Justice and remained under arrest there. The arrest was in furtherance of the execution of a judgment from 1996 in respect of a pollution event in 1989 in respect of another vessel, the Safir, and in respect of court fees owed by the defendants in those proceedings. Mr Justice Burton accepted that there was no connection between the legal and beneficial owners of the Safir and the legal and beneficial owners of the Silva.