22 years and finally...

Timothy Clemens-Jones and Stanislas Lequette, of Holman Fenwick & Willan, review a recent French court decision which finally recognises a ship owner’s right to limit liability – 22 years after the event

In an important decision pronounced on 14 January 2013, the Court of Appeal in Bordeaux has finally recognised the right of the owner of the German flagged vessel Heidberg to limit its liability for maritime claims – in what was, when it commenced, the first case in France to examine the right to limit liability under the terms of the 1976 London Convention.