The Abidin Daver - Court of Appeal (Sir John Donaldson M.R., Dunn & Purchas L.JJ.) - 17 May 1983

Admiralty action - Whether stay should be ordered where action already pending in foreign court

A collision had occurred between the Cuban vessel Las Mercedes and the Turkish vessel Abidin Daver in the Bosporus. The Cuban vessel was arrested in Turkish waters at the suit of the owners of the Turkish vessel with a view to beginning an action in the Turkish courts. Two months later a sister ship of the Abidin Daver was arrested in England by the Cuban shipowners with a view to starting a second action, in which the Cubans would be the plaintiffs, claiming damages for the collision on the basis that the Turks were at fault. The owners of the Abidin Daver applied to the Admiralty Court for the proceedings to be stayed. The application was granted. The owners of Las Mercedes now appealed to the Court of Appeal.