Legal liability for maritime oil pollution : the Prestige case

The article analyses The Prestige case and the latest developments between British interests in protecting the shipping and insurance industry, which relies on arbitration of the London courts in its contracts, and the interests of those affected in being able to make a legal claim in the place where the damage occurred. In particular, it looks at the judgment of 6 October 2023 of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, which restrains enforcement in the United Kingdom (the domicile of the P&I Club of The Prestige) of the order of the Provincial Court of A Coruña of 1 March 2019 which sentenced the insurer to pay EUR 855 million. This restraint of the Spanish order in the United Kingdom is contrary to the response given to the reference for a preliminary ruling submitted by the same High Court to the Court of Justice of the European Union. If the United Kingdom had remained in the European Union, the British insurers would not have been able to oppose the extension of the arbitration clause to the injured third parties. It is proposed to raise the compensation limits of the 1992 Civil Liability Convention.