Riverstone Meat Co. v. Lancashire Shipping Co.

[1961] A.C. 807, [1961] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 57, 1961 AMC 1357 (1960)

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Riverstone Meat Co. v. Lancashire Shipping Co.

House of Lords
[1961] A.C. 807, [1961] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 57, 1961 AMC 1357 (1960)

CS

Facts

Riverstone Meat Co. (plaintiff) contracted with the Lancashire Shipping Co. (defendant) to ship 150 cases of canned ox tongue from Sydney to London aboard Lancashire Shipping’s vessel the Muncaster Castle. The Muncaster Castle had recently been inspected in the United Kingdom, a process that involved opening storm valves in the ship. A marine contractor’s employee was responsible for resealing the covers of the storm valves. If this employee, the fitter, failed to tighten the covers properly, the covers could leak, although this issue could not be discovered by a visual inspection. After the inspection, the ship traveled from London to Sydney and was loaded with Riverstone Meat’s cargo. During heavy weather on the return to London, seawater entered the hold and damaged most of Riverstone Meat’s cargo. It was discovered that the covers had not been properly tightened and that the motion of the ship during the voyage from London to Sydney had loosened the improperly tightened covers, causing them to leak. Riverstone Meat Co. sued Lancashire Shipping for the damage to the cargo. Lancashire Shipping claimed that it was protected from liability because the only negligence had been on the part of the marine contractor’s fitter.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Simonds, L.)

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