Decision ID: 000703
In February 1997 the 1971 Fund Executive Committee considered a claim by two shellfish merchants for losses allegedly suffered as a result of not being able to sell to a regular customer for a period after the fishing ban imposed by the United Kingdom Government had been lifted. The Committee took the view that the claimants losses were not a direct result of the contamination and the ensuing ban, but were due to a commercial decision by a third party to protect his business for a period of time until he could be sure that the claimants would be able to resume normal deliveries. The Committee therfore decided to reject the claim on the grounds that there was not a sufficient degree of proximity between the loss and the contamination. The Committee also took the view that, after the ban had been lifted, and in the knowledge that their major customer would not be buying from them for a period of time, it was not reasonable for the claimants to have bought larger quantities of shellfish than they required to satisfy orders that they had at that time, paying higher than the prevailing prices to the gatherers. Although the claimants maintained that there were good commercial reasons for their action, the Committee decided that any loss resulting from this action could not be attributed to the incident.