Admiralty action on aircraft allowed
The New Zealand Court of Appeal recently ruled that the erroneous arrest of an aircraft under an admiralty action does not make the entire proceeding a nullity. Instead, it could still be heard as a personal action in the same court.
The ruling, reports The Business Times, relates to a dispute in which Swiss corporation, Danzas AG, filed an admiralty action in rem and in personam, claiming damages of almost NZ$1m from Malaysian Airline System aircraft after some cargo was damaged. The action was based on contract (the waybill) and the common law of bailment and negligence. At that time it was not apparent to the plaintiffs lawyers that under New Zealand\'s Admiralty Act 1973, it was not possible in such circumstances to commence an in rem action against an aircraft. The plaintiffs later applied to transfer the proceedings to the High Court\'s general civil jurisdiction and obtained a court order for the transfer. Some time later in 2002, the plaintiffs served their writ on Danzas, which objected to the High Court\'s jurisdiction. Full report in The Business Times