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Gray and another v Braer Corporation and others (29 December 1998) Court of Session, Outer House

United Kingdom
16/08/1999
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This case involved a claim for compensation under the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) Act 1971 in respect of damage arising from the 1993 Braer tanker spill. Mr Stephen Gray and Mr Stanley Gray sought to amend their case to include reference to losses they alleged to have been suffered by the partnership of which they had been partners. The amendment to the case was made more than 3 but less than 6 years after the oil spill from the Braer. The question therefore arose as to whether Section 9 of the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) Act 1971 applied to preclude the extension of the claim to cover these further damages. Section 9 provides that Òno action ... under Section 1 of this Act shall be entertained by any court ... unless the application is commenced not later than 3 years after the claim arose nor later than 6 years after the occurrence ... by reason of which the liability was incurred". Mr Stephen Gray and Mr Stanley Gray sought to argue that the 2 prescription periods under Section 9 apply to different categories of loss. The court, however, held their interpretation to be an unnatural reading of Section 9. Instead the court took the view that Section 9 creates one prescriptive period of 3 years which applies to all claims and a long stop provision that after 6 years from the date of the relevant occurrence no action can be brought to enforce any claim. The court therefore refused Mr Stephen Gray and Mr Stanley Gray's application to amend their case. (Times Law Reports, 10 March 1999)

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