A petition to wind up a one-ship Panamanian company was brought by a claimant cargo-owner who had ‘an unliquidated claim against the company for breach of [a] contract of carriage in respect of the shortages and for damages based on [the vessel] being unseaworthy’ The court was asked whether jurisdiction existed to wind up a foreign (Panamanian) company if it had no place of business within England or Wales and had never transacted business here.
Held: Jurisdiction did exist if there were one or more assets within the jurisdiction and if there were one or more persons, concerned in the proper distribution of the assets, over whom the jurisdiction was exercisable. The relevant asset was the insolvent shipowner’s chose in action in the form of an available claim under the relevant insurance policy made with an English insurance company. Once a winding-up order was made the 1930 Act would apply automatically and ‘the company’s claim against [its insurers] will vest in [the claimant cargo-owners] and could be pursued by [the claimant cargo-owners] against [the insurers], though as to the costs only after they have been quantified by taxation.’ The claimants’ petition was opposed by the insurers who were themselves creditors of the company and did not wish the insurance proceeds to go directly to the owners of the cargo. ‘It will be seen that there is an automatic transfer of the rights of the insured company to the third party upon the making of a winding up order in respect of the insured company. [The plaintiff] accepted that for the purposes of his argument before me the insurance . . . fell within the Act . . .’
Judges:
Megarry J
Citations:
[1973] Ch 75
Statutes:
Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 1930
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – First National Tricity Finance Ltd v OT Computers Ltd; In re OT Computers Ltd (in administration) CA 25-May-2004
The company had gone into liquidation. They had sold consumer policies as extended warranties on behalf of the claimant. The company had insured its own joint liability under the contracts, and the claimant sought information from the company’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insurance, Jurisdiction
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.198397
