Merkur Island Corp v Laughton: HL 1983

The shipowner claimants were party to a contract under which their obligation to prosecute their voyages with the utmost despatch was qualified by clauses providing for the vessel to go off hire and for charterers to have a right after 10 days to cancel, in the event of a labour blockade/boycott of the type which the defendants were pursuing. An allegation was made of interference by unlawful means with the performance of the contract.
Held: No damages were recoverable for that non-performance.

Judges:

Diplock L

Citations:

[1983] 2 AC 570

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

ApprovedTorquay Hotel v Cousins CA 17-Dec-1968
The plaintiff contracted to buy oil for his hotel from Esso. Members of the defendant trades union blocked the deliveries of oil by Esso to the Hotel because of a trade dispute they had with the management of the hotel. The hotel sued for an . .

Cited by:

CitedOBG Ltd OBG (Plant and Transport Hire) Ltd v Raymond International Ltd; OBG Ltd v Allen CA 9-Feb-2005
The defendants had wrongfully appointed receivers of the claimant, who then came into the business and terminated contracts undertaken by the business. The claimant asserted that their actions amounted to a wrongful interference in their contracts . .
CitedDouglas and others v Hello! Ltd and others; similar HL 2-May-2007
In Douglas, the claimants said that the defendants had interfered with their contract to provide exclusive photographs of their wedding to a competing magazine, by arranging for a third party to infiltrate and take and sell unauthorised photographs. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Contract

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.222995