Case report
Liability arising from the theft of the vessel on berth and the effects of the non-fulfilment of contractual obligation to hand the vessel over to the marina from the contract of berth and custody of the vessel : [court's decision review]
Vesna Skorupan Wolff
orcid.org/0000-0002-1591-7247
; Jadranski zavod HAZU, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The obligation of the owner of the vessel, arising from the contract of berth, including
elements of custody, is to hand the vessel over into custody; the vessel shall be held handed
over by the act of handing over the navigation licence and keys to the vessel. The plaintiff (the
owner of the yacht), after having for the last time left the marina and the yacht, failed to hand
over the navigation licence and keys to the vessel; it is thus held that the vessel, pursuant
to contractual provisions, has not been handed over into custody. Thus the defendant (the
marina) is under no obligation to settle the damages arising from the theft of the vessel to the
plaintiff. Additionally, the marina shall not be liable for the damages caused due to the negligence
of the owner of the vessel, the crew, or other persons present on the vessel. The court
judges that the said non-fulfilment on the part of the plaintiff proves the owner’s negligence,
due to which the vessel disappeared from the marina. Hence, it is the plaintiff who is solely
liable for the occurrence of the adverse event (theft of the vessel).
Keywords
vessel on bert; liability arising from the theft of the vessel; contract of berth and custody of the vessel; decision of court
Hrčak ID:
190235
URI
Publication date:
27.11.2017.
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