Decision ID: 001607
In October 2004 the 1971 Fund Administrative Council noted that in April 2004 the Court of Appeal had issued a judgement in favour of the 1971 Fund holding both the charterer and the owner of the tug Falcon 1 which had been towing the Pontoon 300 jointly and severally liable to pay the Fund £533,000. It was also noted that the Court had concluded inter alia that the master of the tug and its owner were together responsible for the damage caused by the incident, that the Pontoon 300 was not seaworthy, that the question of the seaworthiness of the tug did not need to be ascertained as both the tug and tow formed one floating unit and that the liability provisions in the charter party were only effective between the owner and the charterer and did not extend to third parties. The Council noted that the 1971 Fund had appealed against this judgement to the Court of Cassation on the question of quantum and that the tug owner had appealed on procedural grounds, including, inter alia, that the civil case should have been suspended pending the final judgement in the criminal proceedings relating to the incident.