Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc (The Achilleas)
[2008] UKHL 48
Ratio Decidendi
The remoteness test in contract may include consideration of whether the type of loss fell within the scope of the parties' assumed responsibilities, in addition to the orthodox test of reasonable contemplation from Hadley v Baxendale.
ข้อเท็จจริง
A vessel was redelivered late under a time charter. The market rate had fallen sharply, and the owners lost a lucrative follow-on fixture.
สรุปคำพิพากษา
The House of Lords held the owners could not recover the lost profit on the follow-on fixture. Lord Hoffmann held that the charterers had not assumed responsibility for that type of loss. Lord Rodger preferred the orthodox remoteness test but reached the same result.
คำกล่าวสำคัญ
"The question is whether the loss was of a kind for which the party in breach assumed responsibility."
— Lord Hoffmann
การอ้างอิงภายหลัง
Important but controversial refinement of remoteness; the 'assumption of responsibility' approach is not universally adopted.