Blue Nile Shipping Co Ltd and Anr v Iguana Shipping and Finance Inc and Ors (The “Happy Fellow”) - Court of Appeal (Sir Stephen Brown P, Saville and Schiemann LJJ) - 25 July 1997

Jurisdiction - Lis alibi pendens - Whether English limitation action should be stayed by reason of existence of earlier proceedings brought in France against owners of colliding vessel - Applicability of Articles 21 and 22 of Civil Jurisdiction Convention

On 20 November 1995 there was a collision near the mouth of the Seine between the vessels Darfur and Happy Fellow. The collision occurred allegedly as a result of defective steering gear on board Darfur. On 28 November 1995 the Darfur was arrested at Le Havre by the Happy Fellow interests. On 22 December 1995 a writ was issued in the Commercial Court of Le Havre on behalf of seven French claimants, including the owners and three members of the Unigas pool who were the operators of the vessel. At the time of the collision the Darfur had been under time-charter to Seerederei Baco-Liner GmbH. That charterparty enabled the charterers to issue bills of lading and contained a German arbitration clause. However, in March 1996 the owners of Darfur and Baco-Liner agreed to vary the German arbitration clause and substituted an agreement that disputes under the charterparty should be determined in the English High Court of Justice.