New milestone in the restige case

note on the ruling of the High Court of Justice (commercial Court) of October 6, 2023 in the litigation between the London Steam-ship Owers’ Mutual Insurance Association Limited and the Kingdom of Spain

Abstract

The accident of the Prestige, which occurred in Spanish jurisdictional waters a little over 20 years ago, has left a long trail of litigation, both judicial and arbitral. An important part of the controversies generated by the event refers to the compensation of the damages resulting from the pollution caused by the oil carried onboard the ship. In the most recent episode of this litigious aftermath, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales refuses to recognize the enforcement order issued by the Provincial Court of A Coruña in 2019, which obliges the insurer of the shipowner (the London Club) to pay damages above the limit provided for in international maritime rules. The English judgment was issued following a preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The High Court decided to depart from the interpretative criterion of the CJEU and rejected its binding nature, by approaching the effect of such ruling from a jurisdictional perspective, rather than as a matter of substance.