Late payment of insurance claims against P&I clubs under Spanish law

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The ambiguity of the Spanish Shipping Act, which entered into force on 25th September 2014, with regards to the direct action against P&I’s will surely open the door to many third party claims before the Spanish courts. It is unclear whether such actions will prevail or not. If the Spanish courts accept the existence of a direct action, P&I’s in such proceedings may allege the application of English law to their marine insurance contracts as maritime transport is considered a large risk where the choice of law prevails. This will require proof of the contents of such law. Lack or insufficient proof of English law could result inevitably in the application of Spanish law. Read more

Spain’s new time-bar limitation

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On 6th October 2015, the Spanish Official Gazette published Law 42/2015 of 5th October, which amends Law 1/2000 of 7th January of Civil Procedure (also known as the Spanish Code of Civil Procedure).

In its First Final Provision, Law 42/2015 amends Article 1964 of the Spanish Civil Code relating to the time-bar period of personal actions. Article 1964 formerly established a 15-year time-bar period for personal actions. According to the new wording, unless they have a different time-bar period assigned, all personal actions will be considered time-barred after five years from the date in which the compliance with the obligation could have been demanded. Read more

Time of arrival: Time at which the aircraft door is opened

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Regulation No. 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 does not define the actual “arrival time”. That being the case, the need for a uniform application of EU law and the principle of equal treatment requires that the terms of a provision of EU law which makes no express reference to the law of the Member States for the purpose of determining its meaning and scope must normally be given an independent interpretation throughout the European Union. Read more