In Re an Arbitration between Polemis and Furness withy & Co. ( 1921) 3 KB 560

Full Case Details

Facts

• the defendants chartered a ship. The cargo to be carried by them included a quantity of Benzene and/or Petrol in tins.
• Due to leakage in those tins, some of their contents collected in the hold of the ship. Owing to the negligence of the defendants’ servants, a plank fell into the hold, a spark was caused and consequently the ship was totally destroyed by fire.
• The owners of the ship were held entitled to recover the loss—nearly Pounds 200,000, being the direct consequence of the wrongful act although such a loss could not have been reasonably foreseen.

Principles

REMOTENESS OF DAMAGES

The test of directness

• It was negligent in discharging cargo to knock down the planks of the temporary staging, for they might easily cause some damage either to the workmen or cargo or the ship.
• The fact that they did directly produce an unexpected result, a spark in an atmosphere of petrol vapor which cause a fire, does not relieve the person who was negligent from the damage which his negligent act directly caused.
• The Wagon Mound case - It is governing authority not "Re Polemis"