Original scientific paper
The implementation of the principle of damages proportional to the responsibility for collision between vessels and maritime accidents in the United States
Ivo Grabovac
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu, Split, Hrvatska
Abstract
After the well-known judgement given in settlement of the Reliable Transfer dispute (1975) American law recognizes the principle of apportioning damages in relation to the fault assessed in the cases of collision at sea and in maritime accidents in general (previous to that judgement the traditional rule of divided damages where both vessels are at fault was in force). _This paper deals with the concurrent legal changes which have taken place since the Reliable Transfer case. It is also concerned with specific American rules applied in judicial practice during the previous period, particularly the well-known Pennsylvania Rule which, at the time of divided damages, compelled a vessel slightly although statutorily at fault to pay for half of the damage resulting from collision, allision or other maritime accidents if the causation could not be contested. In order to mitigate frequent unfair consequences of such automatic dividing of damages (irrespective of the proportion of liability), in their legal practice the United States established rules for the defence of faults or omissions committed in extremis, then concepts of ''Major and minor faults'', ''Last clear Chance'' and ''Intervening/Superseding cause'', all briefly explained in this paper. After the Reliable Transfer case, under the circumstances of the distribution of damages in proportion to the comparative fault, the application of the doctrine in extremis and the Pennsylvania Rule can fit into the new concept. The other rules, created for the purpose of avoiding the unjust consequences of the earlier concept of divided damages, have no longer a footing in practice. _However ''Both to blame collision clause'' remains applicable because American law has retained the concept of joint and several liability for damage to goods caused by collision.
Keywords
collision between vessels; American law; damages; liability;
Hrčak ID:
208992
URI
Publication date:
30.11.1992.
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